TEXT-S&P revises NTELOS recovery rating to '4'

Aug 14 - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said today that said today that
it revised its recovery rating on the senior secured debt at regional wireless
carrier NTELOS Holdings Corp. (NTELOS) unit NTELOS Inc. to '4' from
'3'. However, the change in the recovery rating does not affect either the 'BB-'
issue-level rating on NTELOS' secured debt or the 'BB-' corporate credit rating.
The '4' recovery rating indicates our current expectation for average (30% to
50%) recovery in the event of a payment default. (For the complete corporate
credit rating rationale, see the full analysis on NTELOS, published June 22,
2012, on RatingsDirect.)

The change in the recovery rating reflects our revised approach to recovery
analysis of wireless carriers in our default scenarios. We estimate wireless
enterprise value in a default scenario by using the greater of a multiple of
projected bankruptcy emergence-level EBITDA or a discrete asset value, based
on the book value of spectrum and a discounted value of network assets. In
NTELOS' case, the cash flow multiple approach results in the greater
valuation. As part of the revision in our methodology, we have also lowered
our projected distressed EBITDA multiple for NTELOS to 4x from 5x to account
for the company's limited geographic footprint as well as the substantial, and
growing portion of revenues derived from its wholesale contract with Sprint.
Our simulation incorporates a default occurring in 2015, reflecting a decline
in revenues under the Sprint wholesale agreement (either from non-renewal or
renewal under substantially less favorable terms) as well as a substantial
erosion of NTELOS' retail subscriber base. (For the full recovery analysis,
see the recovery report on NTELOS, to be published shortly on RatingsDirect,
as well as the commentary on the revised valuation approach for wireless
carriers, also to be published shortly.)

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RATINGS LIST

NTELOS Holdings Corp.
Corporate Credit Rating BB-/Stable/--

Ratings Unchanged; Recovery Rating Revised

NTELOS Inc.
To From
Senior Secured BB- BB-
Recovery Rating 4 3

Complete ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect on
the Global Credit Portal at www.globalcreditportal.com. All ratings affected
by this rating action can be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at
www.standardandpoors.com. Use the Ratings search box located in the left
column.