On March 10, 2004, Standard&Poor's Ratings Services placed its 'BBB+' long-term corporate credit rating on German fixed-line and mobile telecoms operator Deutsche Telekom AG (DT) on CreditWatch with positive implications. At the same time, DT's 'A-2' short-term corporate credit rating was affirmed. The CreditWatch placement follows DT's announcement today of its fourth-quarter and full-year 2003 results, which include materially higher-than-expected free cash flow generation: €8.3 billion for the full year, compared with Standard&Poor's expectations of about €7 billion based on performance over the first nine months. As a result, debt reduction exceeded expectations, with on-balance-sheet net debt of €46.6 billion, compared with €61.1 billion a year earlier. The increase in free cash flow not only reflected
