RENO, NV -- (Marketwire) -- 08/03/09 -- Yonder Media, a broadband Internet provider focused on improving the quality of life by connecting rural communities, today announced that it has acquired the fixed wireless Internet access business of SureWest Broadband (NASDAQ: SURW), located in the Roseville, CA, area.

Yonder Media is committed to becoming the nation's leading provider of broadband access services exclusively for rural communities, where it will bundle high-speed wireless services, customized local Internet portals, and VoIP communications. Yonder Media, through its Yonder Wireless group of operating companies, is growing through selective acquisitions and its strong focus on underserved rural markets in the US, where as many as 10 million Americans are demanding faster Internet access as an alternative to slower dial-up services.

"The addition of SureWest's rural broadband customers located in the heart of California builds on Yonder Media's commitment to growth through selective acquisition," said Craig Vallarino, CEO of Yonder Media. "This marks another key milestone as we expand our reach and become the provider of choice for connecting rural communities to the Internet."

"The sale of the fixed wireless Internet assets is an appropriate move for the company as we continue to execute on our plan to divest non-core assets," said Steve Oldham, SureWest's president and chief executive officer. "Yonder Media is an excellent fit for our customers, matching them with a company that is equally committed to superior customer service as our customers have become accustomed to with SureWest."

Yonder Media's mission is to improve lives by connecting rural communities. The company's vision for Broadband services include important features, such as customized Web portal services that cater to the local community, integrated home automation technologies that control everyday aspects of life, affordable digital (VoIP) phone services and IP video enhanced entertainment, education and business productivity.

About Yonder Media

Yonder Media is the growing enhanced services provider exclusively committed to enriching the lives of rural Americans through cost-effective, wide reaching and dynamic broadband services. Based in Reno, Nevada, Yonder Media, through its operating company, Yonder Wireless, today serves select communities within the western United States. For detailed information, visit: www.yondermedia.com

About SureWest

SureWest Communications (www.surewest.com) is one of the nation's leading integrated communications providers and is the bandwidth leader in the markets it serves. Headquartered in Northern California for more than 90 years, the company expanded into the Kansas City region in February 2008 with the acquisition of Everest Broadband, Inc. and offers bundled residential and commercial services that include IP-based digital and high-definition television, high-speed Internet, Voice over IP, and local and long distance telephone. SureWest was the nation's first provider to launch residential HDTV over an IP network and offers one of the nation's fastest symmetrical Internet services with speeds of up to 50 Mbps in each direction on its fiber-to-the-home network.