Reacting to Early Sales Success and Exciting Customer Demand, SureWest Accelerates 5,000 New Fiber Homes in Olathe, Kansas

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June 1, 2011
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Reacting to Early Sales Success and Exciting Customer Demand, SureWest Accelerates 5,000 New Fiber Homes in Olathe, Kansas

ROSEVILLE, Calif., June 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Following the excitement that has been created with its recent launch of fiber homes in Olathe, KS, SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW) today announced that its Board of Directors has approved adding 5,000 new homes to its 2011 capital plan, resulting in a total of 15,500 fiber home additions scheduled this year in Olathe.

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO)

Steve Oldham, SureWest's president and chief executive officer, said, "This acceleration of homes is a direct result of the high customer demand for SureWest's fiber service and the excellent work of our employees, who have been delivering homes efficiently and ahead of schedule. We have created a buzz in the marketplace with this new service offering and are successfully selling at rates exceeding our expectations.

"Our goal is to reach 35-40% in total penetration on the new fiber homes, and in just a month we have already achieved 18% sales penetration on the first 2,000. In some areas, we are as high as 33%. The acceleration of homes speaks to the confidence we have in our plan and in our employees to continue delivering a strong return on our investments. These types of growth opportunities are expected to generate long-term sustainable free cash flow and additional value for our shareholders."

The additional homes enable SureWest to further take advantage of Federal tax incentives on new investments made in 2011. It increases SureWest's projected 2011 capital expenditures range from $60-70 million to $65-74 million. Projected capital expenditures for 2012 remain in the $60-70 million range and in the $55-65 million range for 2013.

SureWest expects to continue investing in high-margin growth opportunities and is prioritizing spending where it has experienced the greatest returns. The company has achieved high penetration levels in the Kansas City market since it began passing fiber homes in 2009. The existing Kansas City hybrid fiber coaxial network has 40% penetration levels and the 11,600 new fiber homes passed in 2009 have already reached 34% penetration.

About SureWest

SureWest Communications (http://www.surewest.com) is a leading integrated communications provider and the bandwidth leader in the markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 95 years, SureWest offers bundled residential and commercial services in the greater Sacramento and Kansas City regions that include IP-based digital and high-definition television, high-speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance telephone. SureWest was the nation's first provider to launch residential HDTV over an IP network and offers one of the nation's fastest symmetrical Internet services with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in each direction on its fiber-to-the-home network.

Safe Harbor Statement

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, these forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate" or "project," or the negative of those words or other comparable words. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ from those projected in such forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, advances in telecommunications technology, changes in the telecommunications regulatory environment, changes in the financial stability of other telecommunications providers who are customers of the company, changes in competition in markets in which the company operates, adverse circumstances affecting the economy in California, Kansas and Missouri in general, and in the greater Sacramento, California and greater Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri areas in particular, the availability of future financing, changes in the demand for services and products, new product and service development and introductions, and pending and future litigation.

Contacts:

Ron Rogers
Corporate Communications
916-746-3123
r.rogers@surewest.com

Misty Wells
Investor Relations
916-786-1799
m.wells@surewest.com

SOURCE  SureWest Communications

Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO
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SureWest Communications

Web Site: http://www.surewest.com

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