Homestead Preserve Begins Installation of Innovative Fiber-To-The-Home Technology

Warm Springs, VA – August 3, 2005 Last week Homestead Preserveand local communications provider TDS Telecom began installation of a Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH)network to Homestead Preserve residences.  The fiber optic technology will provide Homestead Preserve homeowners with television, telephone, and ultra high-speed Internet services, and it will also be the conveyer of Homestead Preserve’s community intranet. 

“Fiber-To-The-Home technology will allow these homeowners great communications capacity today and well into the future. Homestead Preserve is one of a select group of TDS Telecom areas utilizing this technology nationwide,” says Jerrald Harms, General Manager TDS Telecom’s local office. “FTTH is a smart choice for this community.”

In keeping with Homestead Preserve’s ongoing commitment to environmental stewardship and minimal disturbance to the pristine landscape of Virginia’s Alleghany Highlands, installers will place the fiber optic cable underground to eliminate visual disruption of the environment and minimal impact to the land.  This underground microduct system, called fibreflow^TM is manufactured by UK-based Emtelle.  “We are pleased to be working with TDS and Emtelle to deliver this leading edge technology to Homestead Preserve,” says Amy Westwood, Director of Technology.  “With virtually limitless capacity to deliver current as well as future technologies, this underground fiber network acknowledges our company’s commitment both to technology and environmental stewardship.”

Homestead Preserve is a unique, conservation-based second home community situated on 2,300 acres around the villages of Hot Springs and Warm Springs in Bath County, Virginia. The development is limited to 450 homes, each of which will be built in historic styles native to the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia on lots ranging from ½ to 10 acres in size.  To date, more than 100 home sites have been sold with total sales numbering more than $45 million.

TDS Telecom brings high-quality, reliable, locally based telecommunications services to hundreds of rural and suburban communities across the United States. Founded in 1969, TDS Telecom is a growing part of the Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (AMEX: TDS) family of companies and provides service for more than 1.1 million access line equivalents. For more information about TDS Telecom visit www.tdstelecom.com.