As previously announced, TDS will hold a teleconference on November 3, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. CDT. Listen to the call live via the Events & Presentations page of investors.tdsinc.com.

CHICAGO (November 3, 2023) — Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (NYSE:TDS) reported total operating revenues of $1,278 million for the third quarter of 2023, versus $1,392 million for the same period one year ago. Net income (loss) attributable to TDS common shareholders and related diluted earnings (loss) per share were $(17) million and $(0.16), respectively, for the third quarter of 2023 compared to $(25) million and $(0.22), respectively, in the same period one year ago.

•Postpaid ARPU grew 2%

•Executing on growth initiatives

◦Fixed Wireless customers grew 57% to 106,000

◦Tower rental revenues grew 8%

•Increased profitability

◦Net income, Adjusted OIBDA and Adjusted EBITDA up significantly

•Growth in cash flows from operating activities and positive free cash flow

•Increasing full-year 2023 fiber address goal to 200,000

◦Delivered 61,000 fiber services addresses in Q3; 127,000 year-to-date

•Broadband investments driving positive results

◦Residential broadband connections grew 5%

◦Residential broadband revenues grew 10%

◦Residential revenue per connection grew 3%

* Comparisons are 3Q’22 to 3Q’23 unless otherwise noted

“The TDS Family of Companies continues to invest in its networks to improve its competitive positions,” said LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr., TDS President and CEO. “UScellular is rolling out 5G mid-band spectrum, and TDS Telecom is deploying fiber in attractive markets.”

“At UScellular, while working to improve subscriber results amidst a challenging market, the organization’s financial discipline has enabled the team to deliver a notable increase in profitability. And its growth initiatives – the tower portfolio and fixed wireless services – are both contributing nicely to the gains.

"Due to better-than-expected fiber service address delivery results, TDS Telecom is raising its 2023 fiber service address delivery goal to 200,000. I am pleased that TDS Telecom’s fiber expansion program is driving broadband connection and revenue growth.”

Recent Development: On August 4, 2023, TDS and UScellular announced that the Boards of Directors of both companies decided to initiate a process to explore a range of strategic alternatives for UScellular. The process is still ongoing.

TDS’ current estimates of full-year 2023 results for UScellular and TDS Telecom are shown below. Such estimates represent management’s view as of November 3, 2023 and should not be assumed to be current as of any future date. TDS undertakes no duty to update such estimates, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. There can be no assurance that final results will not differ materially from estimated results.

The 2023 Estimated Results shown below do not reflect any anticipated costs, expenses or results of the strategic alternatives review referenced above.

The following tables reconcile EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA to the corresponding GAAP measures, Net income or Income before income taxes. In providing 2023 estimated results, TDS has not completed the below reconciliation to Net income because it does not provide guidance for income taxes. Although potentially significant, TDS believes that the impact of income taxes cannot be reasonably predicted; therefore, TDS is unable to provide such guidance.

1EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are defined as net income adjusted for the items set forth in the reconciliation above. EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are not measures of financial performance under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the United States (GAAP) and should not be considered as alternatives to Net income or Cash flows from operating activities, as indicators of cash flows or as measures of liquidity. TDS does not intend to imply that any such items set forth in the reconciliation above are infrequent or unusual; such items may occur in the future. Management uses Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA as measurements of profitability, and therefore reconciliations to Net income are deemed appropriate. Management believes Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA are useful measures of TDS’ operating results before significant recurring non-cash charges, nonrecurring expenses, gains and losses, and other items as presented above as they provide additional relevant and useful information to investors and other users of TDS’ financial data in evaluating the effectiveness of its operations and underlying business trends in a manner that is consistent with management’s evaluation of business performance. Adjusted EBITDA shows adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and accretion, gains and losses, and expenses related to the strategic alternatives review of UScellular while Adjusted OIBDA reduces this measure further to exclude Equity in earnings of unconsolidated entities and Interest and dividend income in order to more effectively show the performance of operating activities excluding investment activities. The table above reconciles EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA to the corresponding GAAP measure, Net income or Income before income taxes. Additional information and reconciliations related to Non-GAAP financial measures for September 30, 2023, can be found on TDS' website at investors.tdsinc.com.

TDS will hold a conference call on November 3, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time.

▪Access the live call on the Events & Presentations page of investors.tdsinc.com or at

https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/870810761

▪Access the call by phone at (888)330-2384, conference ID: 1328528.

Before the call, certain financial and statistical information to be discussed during the call will be posted to investors.tdsinc.com. The call will be archived on the Events & Presentations page of investors.tdsinc.com. 

Telephone and Data Systems, Inc. (TDS), a Fortune 1000® company, provides wireless; broadband, video and voice; and hosted and managed services to approximately 6 million connections nationwide through its businesses, UScellular, TDS Telecom, and OneNeck IT Solutions. Founded in 1969 and headquartered in Chicago, TDS employed approximately 9,100 associates as of September 30, 2023.

Visit investors.tdsinc.com for comprehensive financial information, including earnings releases, quarterly and annual filings, shareholder information and more.

Colleen Thompson, Vice President - Corporate Relations

colleen.thompson@tdsinc.com

 

Julie Mathews, IRC, Director - Investor Relations

julie.mathews@tdsinc.com

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: whether any strategic alternatives for UScellular will be successfully identified or completed; whether any such strategic alternative will result in additional value for TDS or its shareholders and whether the process will have an adverse impact on TDS’ businesses; intense competition; the ability to obtain or maintain roaming arrangements with other carriers on acceptable terms and changes in roaming practices; the ability to obtain access to adequate radio spectrum to meet current or anticipated future needs, including participation in FCC auctions; the ability to attract people of outstanding talent throughout all levels of the organization; TDS' smaller scale relative to larger competitors; changes in demand, consumer preferences and perceptions, price competition, or churn rates; advances in technology; impacts of costs, integration problems or other factors associated with acquisitions, divestitures or exchanges of properties or wireless spectrum licenses and/or expansion of TDS’ businesses; the ability of the company to successfully construct and manage its networks; difficulties involving third parties with which TDS does business; uncertainties in TDS’ future cash flows and liquidity and access to the capital markets; the ability to make payments on TDS and UScellular indebtedness or comply with the terms of debt covenants; the effect on TDS' business if the collateral securing its secured term loan is foreclosed upon; conditions in the U.S. telecommunications industry; the value of assets and investments; the state and federal regulatory environment; pending and future litigation; cyber-attacks or other breaches of network or information technology security; control by the TDS Voting Trust; disruption in credit or other financial markets; deterioration of U.S. or global economic conditions; and the impact, duration and severity of public health emergencies. Investors are encouraged to consider these and other risks and uncertainties that are more fully described under “Risk Factors” in the most recent filing of TDS’ Form 10-K, as updated by any TDS Form 10-Q filed subsequent to such Form 10-K.

For more information about TDS and its subsidiaries, visit:

TDS: www.tdsinc.com 

UScellular: www.uscellular.com 

TDS Telecom: www.tdstelecom.com 

OneNeck IT Solutions: www.oneneck.com

1Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) - metric is calculated by dividing a revenue base by an average number of connections and by the number of months in the period. These revenue bases and connection populations are shown below:

•Postpaid ARPU consists of total postpaid service revenues and postpaid connections.

•Prepaid ARPU consists of total prepaid service revenues and prepaid connections.

2Average Revenue Per Account (ARPA) - metric is calculated by dividing total postpaid service revenues by the average number of postpaid accounts and by the number of months in the period.

3Handset upgrade rate calculated as total handset upgrade transactions divided by average postpaid handset connections.

4Churn rate represents the percentage of the connections that disconnect service each month. These rates represent the average monthly churn rate for each respective period.

5Market penetration is calculated by dividing the number of wireless connections at the end of the period by the total estimated population of consolidated operating markets.

1Total residential revenue per connection is calculated by dividing total residential revenue by the average number of residential connections and by the number of months in the period.

N/M - Percentage change not meaningful.

1Consists of TDS corporate, intercompany eliminations and all other business operations not included in the UScellular and TDS Telecom segments.

1.Free cash flow is a non-GAAP financial measure which TDS believes may be useful to investors and other users of its financial information in evaluating liquidity, specifically, the amount of net cash generated by business operations after deducting Cash paid for additions to property, plant and equipment and Cash paid for software license agreements.

The following table reconciles EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted OIBDA to the corresponding GAAP measures, Net income (loss) and Income (loss) before income taxes.