On Jan. 29, 2009, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services assigned its 'A' rating to Dallas-based integrated telecommunications carrier AT&T Inc.'s proposed issuance of an aggregate of approximately $4 billion to $6 billion of unsecured notes with varying maturities. Other ratings on the company, including its 'A' corporate credit and 'A-1' commercial paper (CP) ratings, remain unchanged. The outlook is stable. While the offering memorandum notes that issue proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, importantly, it is our assumption that the bulk of new issue proceeds will be used to repay debt maturities and will not represent a permanent, material increase in total debt. As of Dec. 31, 2008, the company had about $75 billion of total funded debt
