Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. Acquires Team Companies

CHICAGO, Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE: TDS, TDS.S) parent company to TDS Telecommunications Corp. (TDS®) announced that is has acquired TEAM Technologies, LLC (TEAM), one of the Upper Midwest's largest privately owned data center services providers, for a purchase price of $47 million based on annual revenues of $10 million for 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2010. TDS Telecommunications Corp., headquartered in Madison, Wis. will have direct oversight and management responsibility for the acquisition.  

Operating out of three state-of-the-art data centers in Iowa and Wisconsin, TEAM provides a wide range of information technology solutions, such as colocation, disaster recovery, and data security services to commercial customers. TDS Telecommunications Corp. markets communications services, including complementary data transport services, to business and residential customers, in thirty states.  

TEAM was recently named as one of the fastest-growing companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine for the third year in a row. "It's clear this acquisition provides a great opportunity for both companies," said Dave Wittwer, president and CEO for TDS Telecommunications Corp. "TEAM's expertise in power and cooling delivery, physical security and incident response, combined with TDS' networking expertise and transport capabilities, position us well for expanded growth in this dynamic marketplace."

The acquisition of TEAM adds three SAS 70 Type II certified facilities. They are located in Madison, Wis., and Cedar Falls and Des Moines, Iowa. Their current 20,000 square feet of space, and their expansion capabilities, add to TDS' growing portfolio of data centers in the Upper Midwest. With these assets, TDS Telecommunications Corp. along with its affiliates TEAM and VISI, are able to provide colocation, hosting, and emerging cloud solutions to companies of all sizes. With the financial strength of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., a Fortune 500® company, TDS Telecommunications Corp. and TEAM are poised to further invest in evolving services that customers are demanding.

Dave Wittwer of TDS Telecommunications Corp. concludes, "As more companies strive to manage massive amounts of mission critical data, network applications, security services, and risk, partnering with experts in IT and communications infrastructure, such as TEAM and TDS, will be an essential element of success in today's data-centric marketplace."

TDS acquired VISI Incorporated, Minnesota's largest locally-owned data center services and managed hosting provider, in March, 2010. To learn more about VISI visit www.visi.com or follow @VISIHOSTING on Twitter.

Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All information set forth in this news release, except historical and factual information, represents forward-looking statements. This includes all statements about the company's plans, beliefs, estimates and expectations. These statements are based on current estimates, projections and assumptions, which involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that may affect these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: The ability of the company to successfully grow its markets; the overall economy; competition; the access to and pricing of unbundled network elements; the ability to obtain or maintain roaming arrangements with other carriers; the state and federal telecommunications regulatory environment; the value of assets and investments; adverse changes in the ratings afforded TDS and U.S. Cellular debt securities by accredited ratings organizations; industry consolidation; advances in telecommunications technology; uncertainty of access to the capital markets; pending and future litigation; changes in income tax rates, laws, regulations or rulings; acquisitions/divestitures of properties and/or licenses; and changes in customer growth rates, average monthly revenue per unit, churn rates, roaming revenue and terms, the availability of handset devices, or the mix of products and services offered by U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom. Investors are encouraged to consider these and other risks and uncertainties that are discussed in the Form 8-K used by TDS to furnish this press release to the SEC, which are incorporated by reference herein.

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 2,500 people. The company is headquartered in Madison, Wis.  Visit www.tdstelecom.com and www.tdsbusiness.com for more information.  You can also follow TDS on Twitter @tdstelecom and on Facebook.  

TDS Telecommunications Corp. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. [NYSE: TDS, TDS.S] Telephone and Data Systems, Inc., a Fortune 500® company, provides wireless, local and long-distance telephone and broadband services to approximately 7.2 million customers in 36 states through TDS Telecommunications Corp. and U.S. Cellular (NYSE: USM), its 83-percent owned wireless subsidiary.  Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, Telephone and Data Systems employed 12,300 employees as of Sept. 30, 2010. Visit www.teldta.com for more information.

Founded in 2004, TEAM Technologies, LLC under the brand name TEAM Companies provides wholesale data center lease and colocation products.  TEAM owns and operates data centers in Des Moines, Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa and Madison, Wis. All TEAM facilities are SAS 70 type II audited with 24X7 security staff monitoring the buildings.  Insulated from natural disasters and terrorist threats, TEAM's suburban locations in Upper Midwest markets offer safety and security for any organization's mission-critical IT systems and sensitive data. Visit www.team-companies.com for more information and follow @TEAM_Companies on Twitter.

SOURCE Telephone and Data Systems, Inc.