ROSEVILLE, Calif., Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Leading independent
communications holding company SureWest Communications (Nasdaq: SURW) and its
President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Oldham were honored in the
January 2, 2009 issue of the Sacramento Business Journal when Oldham was named
one of four finalists for the Sacramento region's 2008 Executive of the Year.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO)
Oldham was noted in the Business Journal's Executive of the Year feature
for his leadership during SureWest's successful transformation from a
95-year-old traditional telephone company to an advanced and cutting-edge
broadband company delivering superior television, high-speed Internet and
telephone services to residential and commercial customers in the greater
Sacramento and Kansas City regions. In the feature, Oldham, Tom Meuser, Jonna
Ward and Todd Wille were all named as finalists, with Meuser recognized as
Executive of the Year.
In 2008, Oldham spearheaded significant corporate transactions to position
SureWest as a growth-oriented broadband company. In February of 2008, SureWest
acquired Kansas City-based Everest Broadband, Inc. for $173 million and
followed that by announcing the sale of the operating assets of its non-core
Wireless business for an aggregate cash purchase price of $69.0 million and
its more than 50 owned wireless communications towers for a price in the range
of $9.5 to $10.2 million. Additionally, in 2007 under Oldham's guidance,
SureWest sold the assets of its non-core Directory Publishing business for an
aggregate cash purchase price of $110.0 million.
"This honor speaks to the hard work and dedication of our outstanding
employees in both Sacramento and Kansas City," Oldham said. "Throughout our 95
year history, SureWest has had to constantly reinvent itself in an effort to
grow and add new customers while keeping current customers satisfied. Today,
we are working from a position of financial strength and can deliver the
highest performing broadband network to our customers in the markets we serve
due to the significant efforts of our employees. SureWest team members
continue to enhance our current products while rolling out new and exciting
services with a core focus on constantly improving and delivering
best-in-class customer service."
In 2008, for the first time in the company's history, SureWest's Broadband
segment revenues exceeded its Telecom revenues. SureWest also reached an
historic milestone during the year by delivering service to its 100,000th
broadband customer.
The company continues to focus on growing its broadband business and
recently announced it will decrease its fiber-to-the-home build in an effort
to free up cash for potential broadband network acquisitions in 2009.
"In recent years, rather than borrow additional funds, we have chosen to
sell assets that were not core to our business growth and redeploy those funds
into growing and building our advanced network," said Oldham. "The reason we
are scaling our network build in 2009 is that we believe many assets around
the country are undervalued due to the current economy. As a result, we've
made the decision to free up cash in an effort to acquire additional network
assets and expand our broadband footprint. We believe we can do this much
faster and more economically in today's market through acquisition compared to
network build."
Oldham joined SureWest's Board of Directors in January 2004, serving until
he was named president and CEO of SureWest on January 1, 2006 following the
retirement of former president and CEO Brian Strom. While a member of the
board, he served as chair of the SureWest Audit Committee from June 2004
through December 2005. He currently serves as vice chairman for the United
States Telecom Association, whose 18 members represent over 800 companies
across the U.S.
About SureWest
SureWest Communications (http://www.surewest.com) is one of the nation's
leading integrated communications providers and is the bandwidth leader in the
markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 90
years, the company expanded into the Kansas City region in February 2008 with
the acquisition of Everest Broadband, Inc. and offers bundled residential and
commercial services that include IP-based digital and high-definition
television, high-speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance
telephone. Its fiber-to-the-premise IP-based network in the Sacramento region
features the fastest symmetrical Internet speeds in the nation at up to 50
Mbps. In its Kansas City market (http://www.surewestkc.com), 75 percent of the
company's customers subscribe to at least three services.
Contact: Ron Rogers
Corporate Communications
916-746-3123
r.rogers@surewest.com
SOURCE SureWest Communications