S&P cuts Cincinnati Bell

Standard & Poor's said it lowered the ratings on Cincinnati Bell Inc. and subsidiary Cincinnati Bell Telephone Co., including the corporate credit ratings, which were lowered to B from B+.

The agency also lowered all issue-level ratings by one notch.

The outlook is stable.

The downgrade is based on an expectation that the combination of the company's ongoing expansion of its data center business and aggressive financial policies will prevent leverage from declining below the 5x level associated with the previous rating, S&P said.

The ratings reflect its highly leveraged financial risk profile, as well as the intense competitive pressures facing its core wireline business, the agency said.

Tempering rating factors include the company's healthy EBITDA margins in its core wireline business, despite ongoing access-line erosion and revenue losses, S&P said.

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