Fitch Rates ALLTEL's Debt Offering 'A'.

Business Editors

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 13, 2002

Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'A' rating to ALLTEL Corporation's proposed offering of $1.5 billion of senior unsecured notes. A significant portion of the proceeds from the offering will be used for the Verizon wireline and the CenturyTel wireless acquisitions. The ratings of ALLTEL's securities are listed on Rating Watch Negative.

ALLTEL's rating is supported by its strong focus as a leading rural telecom operator with solid margins and stable cash flows particularly from the rural wireline markets. The rating also recognizes the risks associated with ALLTEL's increased leverage resulting from its acquisitions in an increasingly competitive telecommunications environment, which has been impacted by a slowing economy.

The $1.5 billion offering completes the majority of the long-term financing required in 2002 for the acquisition of the CenturyTel wireless assets and the Verizon wireline access lines. In May 2002, ALLTEL completed an offering of $1.4 billion in publicly traded equity units. Fitch expects additional funding requirements for the transactions of approximately $500 million to be met in the commercial paper market. As of March 31, 2002, ALLTEL had $21 million outstanding on its commercial paper program.

Pro forma debt-to-EBITDA for 2002 is expected in the range of 1.8 times (x) - 1.9x, taking into account the level of equity consideration with the equity units, compared to a historically strong debt-to-EBITDA over the last 12 months of 1.3x. Pro forma EBITDA-to-interest for 2002 is expected to approximate 7x. Based on the proceeds of this offering and anticipated operating performance at the time of the last transaction closing in August 2002, Fitch anticipates removing the Rating Watch Negative and expects to affirm ALLTEL's current 'A' rating. Credit protection measures are expected to improve going forward in 2003 due to ALLTEL's positive free cash flow and operating synergies. Benefiting ALLTEL's anticipated improvement in its credit profile is the capital funding requirements of the company. While approximately $100 million is required for a CDMA overlay in CenturyTel's markets, ALLTEL's prudent management of its operations is reflected in its capital spending as a percentage of revenue, which has been under 20% for the last three years. Expectations for 2002 and 2003 capital spending are consistent with current spending levels of approximately 16% of revenue. At approximately $5 per POP, upgrades to CDMA 1XRTT are significantly less than GSM/GPRS upgrades and will reflect voice capacity requirements rather than aggressive spending and deployment for a 1XRTT data network.