Fitch has lowered the ratings of Colombian telecom operator Transtel Intermedia to D from C, it says. The move follows the company’s announcement that it is seeking to exchange its 12% 2016 senior notes with new senior secured step-up notes. The agency finds that offer “qualifies as a distressed debt exchange due to the diminished terms of the proposed notes.” Transtel has made the exchange offer during the 30-day grace period following a missed December 1 coupon payment, Fitch notes, and the company should be further challenged by a $4.5m maturity of a 2008 bond on December 31. In a tender launched Tuesday, Transtel offered holders of the 2016s an equal principle amount in step-up notes plus warrants for its common stock, in an exercise led by Morgan Stanley, expiring January 22.