TORONTO (Standard&Poor's) June 28, 2002--Standard&Poor's today said it assigned its single-'A'-minus senior unsecured debt rating to telecommunications company BCE Inc.'s C$3.3 billion two-year bank facility as well as to the company's C$3.5 billion promissory note to SBC Communications Inc. At the same time, the ratings outstanding on BCE Inc. and its subsidiary, Bell Canada, were lowered reflecting a change in methodology, including the long-term corporate credit ratings, which were lowered to single-'A' from single-'A'-plus. The ratings on BCE also were removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed May 17, 2002. The outlooks are stable. The ratings revisions reflect the announcement that Montreal, Que.-based BCE will repurchase SBC's 20% interest in Bell Canada. The C$6.32 billion transaction
