NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 28, 2011—Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on AT&T Inc. (A-/Stable/A-2) are unaffected by the company's announcement that it plans to take a $4 billion pretax charge against its fourth-quarter earnings to reserve for a potential break-up fee paid to Deutsche Telekom. The fee would be payable if AT&T's proposed acquisition of T-Mobile USA does not receive regulatory approval. AT&T and Deutsche Telekom also said they withdrew their application for the transaction to be approved by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. While we expect AT&T to continue pursuing the merger either in court or through negotiations with the U.S. Justice Department, we recognize that the transaction faces steep
