On March 16, 2009, Standard&Poor's Rating Services affirmed its ratings on Dallas-based integrated telecommunications carrier AT&T Inc., including the `A' corporate credit rating. At the same time, we revised the long-term rating outlook to negative from stable. The outlook change reflects a number of events that, in aggregate, have materially boosted debt levels, leaving little room for additional leverage at the current rating level. Adjusted debt/EBITDA was 2.7x at Dec. 31, 2008, well above the 1.9x level a year ago and considerably higher than our earlier expectation of leverage in the low-2x area in 2009. The increased debt can be attributed to the 2008 purchases of wireless spectrum from the FCC auction and from Aloha Partners, and to
