SureWest has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Everest Broadband for $173 million in cash. Everest is a privately held competitive provider of high-speed data, video and voice services in the greater Kansas City area. The transaction, which is expected to close by the end of the first quarter 2008, will more than double SureWest’s triple-play residential subscriber base and facilitate the rapid expansion of its business services.

SureWest has been successfully transforming itself from a traditional provider of voice products to a full-service integrated communications company. This transaction significantly advances SureWest’s strategic transformation by bringing together two companies focused on delivering advanced services to a knowledgeable customer demographic that has historically demanded superior triple-play products.

The combined company will serve a broader customer base across two comparable areas and together possess over 200,000 revenue generating units in the greater Sacramento, California, and Johnson County, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri areas. This includes approximately 95,000 data, 54,000 video and 53,000 voice RGUs in addition to roughly 117,000 voice access lines. As a customer service and bandwidth leader reporting 2.7 RGUs per residential customer and an acceptance rate of more than 75 percent on triple-play services, Everest provides the opportunity to greatly increase SureWest’s average revenue per userand its sale of multiple services to an expanded and more diversified customer base. SureWest intends to grow the number of total marketable homes and increase penetration on the Everest network while leveraging Everest’s fiber ring to provide services to a greater number of business customers in the area.

For the third quarter ended September 30, 2007, the combined company generated $66.5 million in unadjusted revenue and approximately $21 million of unadjusted EBITDA. The combined results exclude any pro forma adjustments necessary to reflect the purchase transaction (EBITDA is defined as combined operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and is reconciled to GAAP results in the accompanying table).

SureWest delivers an impressive 100 megabits per second to each of its fiber customers and offering the fastest symmetrical Internet speed in the country at up to 50 Mbps. It continues to upgrade and expand its IP-based fiber-to-the-home network to offer a truly superior customer experience. The Company has also effectively leveraged its extensive network bandwidth to become the first provider of HD IPTV in the country and will deliver 50 HDTV channels before the end of 2007.

In order to enhance its financial flexibility to support its continued growth, SureWest has sold non-core assets, including the directory advertising business earlier this year. In addition, the Company is currently in negotiations to sell its wireless business, although there are no assurances that this transaction will be consummated.