OREANDA-NEWS. Open Joint Stock Company “MegaFon” (LSE: MFON), a leading Russian telecommunications operator (“MegaFon” or “the Company”), announces that Standard and Poor's Ratings Services (“S&P”) has affirmed the Company's foreign and local currency corporate rating at the “BBB-” level and changed its outlook on MegaFon's local currency rating from “negative” to “stable”, while keeping the foreign currency rating outlook at “negative”.

According to S&P, the affirmation of MegaFon's “BBB-” rating reflects the Company's robust position in Russia's competitive telecoms market and leadership in mobile data, as well as strong operating performance, adequate liquidity, conservative credit metrics, and high corporate governance standards.The negative outlook on foreign currency rating mirrors that for the Russian Federation.

Gevork Vermishyan, Chief Financial Officer of MegaFon, commented on the S&P rating action as follows:

“We are very pleased with S&P affirming MegaFon's investment-grade rating. We believe that this action reflects the agency's confidence in the Company's credit quality even in the current uncertain times”.