THINK

Today Mississippi-based wireless provider announces it will offer 1 Gbps fiber Internet to nine Mississippi communities including Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Horn Lake, McComb, Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville.

Pricing for this service starts at $80 a month or $140 a month for Fiber Internet and digital TV. If you’re already a C Spire customer you will receive an additional $10 off per month. 1 Gbps Internet is 100 times faster than most current home Internet speeds.

Here’s the C Spire press release in its entirety:

C SPIRE REVEALS FINALISTS FOR ‘GET FIBER FIRST’ CHALLENGE – BRINGS FIBER TO THE HOME DEPLOYMENT ONE STEP CLOSER TO REALITY

Cities and Towns Across Mississippi Answered C Spire’s Call-To-Action and Joined the Race To Make 1 Gigabit Internet Access Available To Their Residents

Ridgeland, Miss (Nov. 4, 2013) – C Spire announced today the nine Mississippi cities that will be finalists for the nation’s first and only statewide roll out of ultra-fast 1 Gbps broadband fiber to the home Internet service.

The nine communities who will be participating in the initial phase of the historic broadband initiative include Batesville, Clinton, Corinth, Hattiesburg, Horn Lake, McComb, Quitman, Ridgeland and Starkville. These cities and towns were among 33 municipalities that submitted formal applications late last month to be the first to bring the technology of tomorrow to their communities today.

From Southaven to Gulfport, cities responded to C Spire’s Get Fiber First Challenge, which began in

September when the company announced a statewide initiative to deploy ultra-fast 1 Gig Fiber to the

Home Internet in cities and towns that best showcase their passion for securing service that’s 100 times

faster than national average broadband speeds.

All of the applicants developed creative, aggressive campaigns featuring rallies and town hall meetings,

local celebrations, door-to-door canvassing, mobilization of neighborhood groups and homeowner

organizations, dedicated websites, social media campaigns and even stadium and freeway billboard

advertisements.

C Spire had initially hoped to name multiple cities as finalists, but because of the strength, quality and

comprehensive nature of submissions by so many cities, the company decided to increase the number

of partner communities to nine during the first phase of the initiative.

The finalist cities were announced during a news conference at C Spire headquarters with Mississippi

Gov. Phil Bryant, a host of state and local elected officials and representatives from the Fiber to the

Home (FTTH) Council Americas. Bryant acknowledged the historic announcement by presenting a

proclamation declaring Monday, November 4 as “Get Fiber First” and “Gimme Fiber” day in Mississippi.

“We’re proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with a company that cares about the future of Mississippi

and is investing its resources to ensure that we become a leader for U.S. technology investment,” Bryant

said. “Fiber to the Home technology will make our towns and cities stronger and more attractive places

to live and work.”

C Spire also announced pricing for its ultra-fast Internet and related digital television and home phone

services. The 1 Gbps Internet access will be available for $80 a month, $100 a month for combined

Internet and home phone, $140 a month for Internet and digital TV and $160 a month for the entire package. C Spire Wireless customers will receive an additional $10 monthly discount on all

packages.

The finalist cities were selected by a C Spire review panel that considered factors like proximity to the

company’s fiber optic infrastructure, community mobilization capabilities and incentives to speed up the

construction process and reduce overall costs. The application review process was monitored and the

Individual and overall results tabulated by Ridgeland-based Horne LLP, one of the nation’s top

independent public accounting and business advisory firms.

“We are truly impressed with the overwhelming show of support for C Spire’s Fiber to the Home

deployment and the tremendous interest and demand for making this service a reality for the residents

in these communities,” said Hu Meena, president and CEO of C Spire. “The positive response we’ve

received only strengthens our determination to bring 100-times-faster Internet, and the limitless

possibilities that come along with it, to as many people as we can because we know that this service has

the power to transform our state into a hub for technology investment and economic growth.”

Meena said C Spire plans to continue working with the cities that were not selected in the preliminary

round and will share best practices and improvements that promise to make the process easier, faster

and better for subsequent challenges. “We want to ensure that all of our communities remain actively

engaged in the process and keep the demand and excitement alive for upcoming phases,” he said.

Officials with Fiber to the Home Council Americas also participated in the news conference after

announcing in September that C Spire had been chosen as the North American showcase initiative for its

inaugural “Gimme Fiber Day” award.

The award is part of an annual event and celebration to honor the achievements of Professor Charles

Kao, who pioneered the use and development of fiber optics in telecommunications, and showcase how

fiber optics have positively impacted communities around the world and what policymakers can do to

accelerate its deployment and adoption.

“We are incredibly excited to be recognizing C Spire and the state of Mississippi during our inaugural

Gimme Fiber Day celebration,” said FTTH Council President Heather Burnett Gold. “Increasingly,

communities and companies around the U.S. are recognizing the power that FTTH brings, and we’re

glad to be celebrating in Mississippi, a state that has not traditionally led the digital charge, but where

individuals, communities and technology companies like C Spire recognize that they must take control of

their own broadband destinies to secure a high-tech future.”

“Fiber to the home is a transformative technology, serving as a platform for innovation and a whole new
Internet experience,” Meena said. “We thank the Fiber to the Home Council for this honor and look

forward to showing them the power of Internet at the speed of light as we turn up service soon in the

first C Spire Fiber cities in Mississippi.”

Now that the finalist cities have been selected, the next phase of the ‘Get Fiber First’ Challenge kicks

into high gear. As this stage gets under way, elected officials and community leaders will be rallying

their respective communities to quickly pre-register homeowners in designated neighborhoods at

percentage levels that will qualify them to be the first for C Spire’s build out of the service.

As soon as a critical number of neighborhoods have reached their percentage goals in an individual city,

C Spire plans to begin construction in those areas – so there is a possibility that work could commence in

more than one community at the same time, said Gregg Logan, senior vice president of C Spire Fiber.

Logan said pre-registration in the nine cities begins soon when C Spire launches an updated Fiber to the

Home website – www.cspire.com/fiberhome – with functionality that shows Individual neighborhoods

in each community and the percentage of residents who are needed to sign up for the new service.

Residents will be asked to make a $10 refundable deposit and provide credit card information when

they pre-register. The website also will feature detailed, interactive maps of neighborhoods in cities

showing progress each one is making toward turning their area “green” and qualifying for build out of

the service.

Logan said C Spire hopes to start turning up 1 Gig service in the first C Spire Fiber neighborhoods by

the middle of next year. The service is expected to pave the way for improvements in the areas of

healthcare, education, civic life, municipal services and economic growth.

To learn more about C Spire’s Fiber to the Home initiative, as well as to discover how you can help

your community get to the finish line first by pre-registering, visit www.cspire.com/fiberhome for more

details.

About C Spire

C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class customer

service and a superior comprehensive suite of customer-inspired wireless communications, high-speed Internet

access and a range of other telecommunications products and services to consumers and businesses with a

personal focus. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more

information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter

at www.twitter.com/cspire.