NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) April 22, 1999--Standard&Poor's today placed its double-'A'-minus long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured debt ratings for Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) on CreditWatch with positive implications. At the same time, Standard&Poor's affirmed its 'A-1'-plus short-term corporate credit rating on the company. The short-term corporate credit rating is not on CreditWatch. The CreditWatch placement follows the announcement that DT and Telecom Italia SpA have agreed to merge. In principle, if the merger can be successfully completed on a purely paper basis, the merged entity would have an enhanced business and a stronger financial profile than that of DT on a stand-alone basis. These strengths should more than compensate for the reduced implied
