AT&T Co will not damage its creditworthiness by buying McCaw Cellular Communications Inc, Standard & Poor’s Corp has concluded. The ratings agency affirmed the company’s double-A senior unsecured long-term debt and A1-plus commercial paper rating and the double-A senior debt of AT&T Credit Corp, NCR Corp, and AT&T Capital Corp’s medium-term notes – some $17,000m of debt all told. AT&T’s rating profile is dominated by its strong competitive position and the financial strength of the long distance telephone and telegraph equipment markets as well as a conservative financial policy, it said.
