SAO PAULO (Standard&Poor's) Feb. 6, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'BBB-' rating to Brasil Telecom S.A.'s (BRT) planned issuance of 10-year $1 billion senior unsecured notes. The company will use the proceeds to refinance existing debt maturities and for other corporate purposes. BRT (BBB-/Stable/--) is the incumbent of region II and an integral part of Telemar group, and therefore our rating on BRT is the same as on the group. Our ratings on Telemar reflect its dominant market position in the Brazilian telecom industry, with revenue diversification among wireline, wireless, and broadband segments, and its resulting strong cash flow generation. The industry, however, suffers from high competition, especially with the traffic trend moving from fixed-line to
