MELBOURNE (Standard & Poor's) Feb. 5, 2004--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that the announcement by Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. that it intends to increase dividend payments to shareholders in fiscal 2004 following the release of its results for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2003, has no impact on its 'A/A-1' credit ratings. The outlook remains stable. TCNZ continued to deleverage in 2003 by generating more than NZ$500 million in free operating cash flow for the six months ended Dec. 31, 2003, resulting in EBITDA interest coverage of greater than 6 times (x) and debt-to-EBITDA of less than 2x. "With revenue growth in the short to medium term expected to be underpinned by mobile and data
