MILAN (Standard&Poor's) Nov. 25, 2008--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that it revised its outlook to negative from stable on Austrian incumbent telecom operator Telekom Austria AG after reviewing the company's recently announced restructuring plan and third-quarter 2008 results. At the same time, we affirmed the 'BBB+/A-2' long- and short-term corporate credit ratings. "The outlook revision reflects our concerns that Telekom Austria's restructuring plans announced last week could prove insufficient to deliver the necessary productivity gains and operating flexibility to address the company's steadily declining revenue base and profitability in the domestic fixed-line segment," said Standard&Poor's credit analyst Guy Deslondes. Although 1,250 employees will be made redundant under the plan, about 1,000 of them may
