SureWest to Report Third Quarter 2005 Results November 7

SureWest to Report Third Quarter 2005 Results November 7

Company Also Releases Third Quarter Operating Metrics

ROSEVILLE, Calif., Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Leading independent telecommunications holding company SureWest Communications (NASDAQ:SURW) will release financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2005, before the market opens on Monday, November 7, 2005. SureWest also released non-financial quarterly operating metrics by segment today. Please view the attached table.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO )

The Company will host a conference call and live Webcast at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time on Monday, November 7 to discuss third quarter 2005 results. Open to the public, the Webcast will be available from the Company's investor relations website at www.surw.com and via replay shortly after completion of the call. A telephone replay of the conference will also be available a short time after the conference call and through Saturday, November 12, by dialing 888-286-8010 and entering passcode 38574034. Be sure to visit www.surw.com for updates prior to the call.

About SureWest Communications

With more than 90 years in Northern California, SureWest and its family of companies together provide a wide variety of highly reliable advanced communications products and services. SureWest provides digital TV, fiber optics, PCS wireless, DSL, high-speed Internet access, data transport, local and long distance telephone service, and directories with the highest standards of customer care. For more information, visit the SureWest web site at www.surewest.com.

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 in general, and in the Sacramento, California Metropolitan area in particular, the availability of future financing, changes in the demand for services and products, new product and service development and introductions, pending and future litigation, the internal control issues identified by the company, and unanticipated changes in the growth of the company's emerging businesses, including the wireless, Internet, video and Competitive Local Exchange Carrier operating entities.

SUREWEST COMMUNICATIONS Selected Operating Metrics

As of and for the quarter ended

September 30, September 30, Pct 2005 2004 Change LINE SUMMARY ILEC access lines 130,000 132,981 -2.2% Broadband access lines (1) 16,858 12,535 34.5% Total SureWest access lines 146,858 145,516 0.9%

TELECOM ILEC access lines 130,000 132,981 -2.2% ILEC voice-grade equivalents (2) 373,100 448,600 -16.8% Long distance lines 51,213 46,191 10.9% Long distance penetration 39.4% 34.7% 13.4%

BROADBAND CLEC access lines 2,175 1,770 22.9% CLEC voice-grade equivalents (2) 285,300 141,700 101.3% DSL subscribers 26,945 22,300 20.8% DSL revenue-generating units (RGUs) (3) 28,430 22,941 23.9% Video RGUs 2,021 971 108.1% Data RGUs 26,815 22,156 21.0% FTTP subscribers 19,245 14,786 30.2% FTTP revenue-generating units (RGUs) (4) 44,793 34,619 29.4% Voice RGUs 14,683 10,765 36.4% Video RGUs 13,713 11,478 19.5% Data RGUs 16,397 12,376 32.5% FTTP marketable homes 84,500 62,100 36.1% FTTP marketable homes penetration (5) 22.5% 23.6% -4.7% FTTP churn 1.6% 1.9% -15.8%

WIRELESS Total subscribers 53,818 49,072 9.7% Contract subscribers 49,374 41,897 17.8% POPs 3,532,000 3,477,000 1.6% POPs covered 2,759,000 2,711,000 1.8% Net contract additions 595 1,274 -53.3% Net non-contract additions -138 -733 -81.2% Contract churn (6) 3.2% 3.4% -5.3%

(1) The sum of CLEC access lines and FTTP voice RGUs. (2) Voice-grade equivalents (VGEs) are calculated by dividing the capacity of all circuits in use by 64 kilobits (bandwidth representing a voice access line), excluding ethernet service and Broadband FTTP data RGUs. DSL VGEs are counted as two 64 kbps channels. (3) Revenue-generating units (RGUs) are the sum of all primary digital video and high-speed data connections, excluding additional units. Telephony units are included in ILEC Access Lines. (4) Revenue-generating units (RGUs) are the sum of all primary digital video, telephony and high-speed data connections, excluding additional units. (5) FTTP marketable home penetration is calculated on residential marketable homes passed and residential FTTP subscribers. The total FTTP subscribers also includes 219 and 106 Small-Medium Enterprise customers in 2005 and 2004, respectively, which are not included in the penetration rate. (6) Quarterly turnover in contract customers (total contract customer disconnects divided by sum of monthly average contract subscribers).

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050908/SFSUREWESTLOGO AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/ PRN Photo Desk photodesk@prnewswire.com Source: SureWest Communications

CONTACT: Karlyn Oberg, Director of Investor Relations of SureWest Communications, +1-916-786-1799, or k.oberg@surewest.com

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

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