TDS Telecommunications Corp.: Shares policy blueprint for federal universal service and inter-carrier compensation reform with the Federal Communications Commission

Contact:

Andrew Petersen, Director of External Affairs and Communications

TDS Telecommunications Corp.

p. 608-664-4051

e: andrew.petersen@tdstelecom.com

Madison, Wis. (Dec. 7, 2009) –Today, TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS™) filed comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) highlighting the critical role that reform of the universal service and intercarrier compensation mechanisms will play in achieving the goal of universal broadband to all Americans.

The following statements can be attributed to David A. Wittwer, president and CEO of TDS Telecommunications Corp (TDS™):

“As FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski highlighted last week in prepared remarks to the Innovation Economy Conference, achieving the goal of universal broadband will require the nation to ‘reorient’ universal service support to specifically target the broadband platform.

“In our filing with the FCC today, TDS endorses the framework developed by the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies (OPASTCO) for making the transition to a broadband-based universal service mechanism.

“The OPASTCO plan sets out a workable vision for reorienting these two critical federal mechanisms that have supported universal telephone connectivity in rural and other high-cost areas — the Universal Service Fund and intercarrier compensation — to a new Universal High Speed Broadband Fund.

“By making that transition and providing the incentives for continued build-out of broadband networks in high-cost areas, the FCC can help to ensure that broadband brings the world to rural America, and rural America to the world.”

TDS Telecommunications Corp. markets communication services to business and residential customers in 30 states through its brands TDS Telecom® and TDS Metrocom®. With 1.1 million access line equivalents in service, TDS Telecommunications Corp. connects customers to phone, broadband, and digital television service in hundreds of rural, suburban, and metropolitan communities.

TDS Telecommunications Corp. is the eighth-largest wire line company in the nation; employing approximately 2,730 people. The company is headquartered in Madison, Wis. Visit http://www.tdstelecom.com and http://www.tdsbusiness.com for more information. Connect on Twitter @tdstelecom and Facebook.

TDS Telecommunications Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. Telephone and Data Systems™ is a Fortune 500® company that provides wireless, local and long-distance telephone, and broadband services to nearly 7.4 million customers in 36 states, through TDS Telecommunications Corp. and U.S. Cellular®, its 82-percent owned wireless subsidiary. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, Telephone and Data Systems employed 11,800 people as of Sept. 30, 2009. For more information, visit http://www.teldta.com.