Canada-based telecom services provider Telus Corp.'s S&P Global Ratings-adjusted debt to EBITDA remained above 4.0x for the last two years and we expect leverage to remain above our downgrade threshold of 3.75x for another 12-18 months. Elevated competitive risks in the Canadian market is a key contributing factor to our view of uncertainty in timely leverage reduction. Even though Telus management has indicated its desire to reduce leverage by 2027 through noncore assets sales and other corporate initiatives; the timeliness and magnitude of these actions is uncertain. As a result, we lowered our issuer-credit ratings on Telus and its subsidiaries to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' At the same time, we lowered the issue-level ratings on Telus? senior unsecured debt to BBB-
