U.S. telecommunications service provider Windstream Holdings Inc.'s EBITDA fell short of our expectations in 2014 and we expect the company's margins will continue to weaken over the next year. We believe that operating lease adjusted leverage will be in the mid- to high-5x area in 2015, which is somewhat higher than our original expectations. We are revising our rating outlook on Windstream to negative from stable and affirming our 'BB-' corporate credit rating on the company. The 'B' issue-level rating on the company's senior unsecured debt remains on CreditWatch with positive implications. The negative outlook reflects the risk of a downgrade if Windstream is unable to reduce leverage to below 5.5x over the next 12 months. On March 12, 2015,
