MmO2, the former BT Wireless mobile phone subsidiary of British Telecom, has narrowly avoided junk status as Moody's and Standard & Poor's, the rating agencies, assigned their first ever ratings to the firm.

S&P gave mmO2 a BBB- credit rating, the lowest of its investment grade ratings. Moody's appeared slightly more hopeful about the company's credit standing, assigning it a Baa2 rating, one notch higher than S&P.