NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) August 31, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that its ratings and outlook on AT&T Inc. (A-/Stable/A-2) will currently remain unchanged, despite the U.S. Department of Justice's filing of a civil antitrust lawsuit to block AT&T's proposed $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile USA, a unit of Deutsche Telekom AG (BBB+/Positive/A-2). In its announcement, the Justice Department said the combination of two of the four largest U.S. wireless carriers would result in "higher prices, fewer choices, and lower quality products for mobile wireless services." While today's announcement casts some doubt on the deal's likelihood of completion, we believe there are still many potential outcomes. AT&T said it plans to challenge the lawsuit, and according to
