On Jan. 30, 2007, Standard&Poor's Rating Services lowered its corporate credit and senior unsecured ratings on Reston, Va.-based wireless carrier Sprint Nextel Corp. to 'BBB' from 'BBB+'. The commercial paper rating was lowered to 'A-3' from 'A-2'. The outlook is negative. Total debt on an operating lease-adjusted basis and including unfunded pensions and other postemployment benefits (OPEBs) as of Sept. 30, 2006, was approximately $34.5 billion. All ratings are removed from CreditWatch, where they were placed with negative implications on Jan. 9, 2007, following the company's announcement that it expected EBITDA for 2007 to decline 9% to 15%. The downgrades reflect the convergence of a number of operating challenges and execution missteps since the August 2005 merger of
