MILAN (Standard&Poor's) March 3, 2005--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it has raised its long-term corporate credit rating on Deutsche Telekom AG (DT), Germany's dominant telecoms service provider, to 'A-' from 'BBB+', following DT's rapid debt reduction over 2004 and sustained operating performance. At the same time, the 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating was affirmed. The outlook is stable. "Although the pace of debt reduction should come to a drastic halt in 2005, we believe that DT has sufficiently improved its credit ratios, delivered suitably strong cash flow generation, and accumulated enough financial flexibility to be rated at this new level," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Guy Deslondes. Over 2004, DT reduced on-balance-sheet net debt
