LONDON (Standard&Poor's CreditWire) Aug. 26, 1999--Standard&Poor's today assigned its 'A-1'-plus short-term rating to France Telecom S.A.'s $8 billion U.S. commercial paper program. Standard&Poor's double-'A'-plus long-term corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings on France Telecom remain on CreditWatch, where they were placed on July 16, 1999, with negative implications, while the short-term corporate credit and commercial paper ratings on France Telecom remain at 'A-1'-plus. The CreditWatch placement on France Telecom reflects the announcement that it has reached an agreement with U.K. cable operator NTL Inc. (single-'B'/Watch Pos/--) to invest a total of $5.5 billion in NTL, including an initial investment of $1 billion, which was completed on Aug. 13, 1999. The CreditWatch listing on France
