On Sept. 16, 2016, we lowered our long-term ratings on Nigeria to 'B' from 'B+'. The sovereign downgrade reflects increased risk for South Africa-based MTN Group Ltd., because Nigeria is its largest market. We also take into account the Nigerian Communications Commission's fine of Nigerian naira (NGN) 330 billion (approximately US$1.6 billion) levied on MTN. We are therefore lowering our ratings on MTN and its senior unsecured debt to 'BB+' from 'BBB-'. We are also lowering our national scale rating on MTN to 'zaA+' from 'zaAA-'. The stable outlook reflects our view that additional rating pressure on South Africa over the next year is unlikely to affect MTN's creditworthiness, and that the group's leverage ratios will remain below 1.5x. On
