SAN FRANCISCO (Thomson Financial) - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said
Monday the ratings and outlook for AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are
not affected by the companies' winning bids in the Federal Communications
Commission's recent 700 MHz wireless spectrum auction.
The cash requirements for the spectrum are $6.6 billion for AT&T and $9.4
billion for Verizon.
S&P expects the spectrum investments to provide both companies with capacity
to roll out next generation technology to support advanced services. However,
the ratings agency added, this increases leverage and uses much of the debt
capacity at the companies' current stable outlooks.
Shares of AT&T rose 2.7% to $37.82, while Verizon shares added 2.6% to
$27.05.
Gabriel Madway
gm
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