On May 17, 2002, Standard&Poor's placed its ratings on telecommunications company BCE Inc. on CreditWatch with negative implications, including the single-'A'-plus long-term corporate credit and preliminary senior unsecured debt ratings. The CreditWatch placement reflects heightened uncertainty at BCE regarding the company's long-term business strategy, and the potential that debt could increase substantially should either BCE or SBC Corp. decide to exercise their option with respect to the 20% ownership in Bell Canada (local currency A+/Stable/--; foreign currency A+/Stable/A-1). Montreal, Que.-based BCE remains Canada's largest communications company, reporting consolidated revenues of C$5.2 billion and EBITDA of C$1.9 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2002. Standard&Poor's continues to view BCE as an investment holding company given that
