MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) May 24, 2010--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said that it had affirmed its 'A' long-term and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit ratings on New Zealand-based telecommunications company Telecom Corp. of New Zealand Ltd. (TCNZ). At the same time, we revised the outlook on the long-term rating on TCNZ to negative, from stable. The outlook revision follows TCNZ's recent confirmation that it is considering a structural separation of its copper access network from its remaining businesses in order to participate in the New Zealand government's proposed "Ultra Fast Broadband" fibre-to-the-home network. "We consider TCNZ's vertically integrated business model to be a key driver of the group's strong business risk profile," Standard&Poor's credit analyst Paul Draffin
