Moody’s Mulls Brasil Telecom Upgrade

Moody’s has put Brasil Telecom’s global scale senior unsecured rating of Ba1 under review for possible upgrade and affirmed its Aa1.br national scale senior unsecured rating (stable), based on its achievement of positive margins in the mobile telephony business, cost reduction efforts and maintenance of strong credit metrics. The review will focus on the sustainability of credit metrics in light of changes expected for the Brazilian telecommunications industry in the near to medium term, including the introduction of number portability and several changes in regulations to promote competitiveness. Trends in traffic, revenue and margins by product and the company’s financial policy going forward will also be considered.