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Since it began providing local telephone
service in 1969 in Wisconsin with 10 small telephone companies,
TDS now provides
wireless, local and long-distance
and broadband services. Operating in 36 states through its business
units U.S. Cellular and TDS Telecom, the company today provides
telecommunications services to more than 7 million customers.
Read on for a look at how TDS grew from its
small beginnings to the FORTUNE 500 company it is today. Or, click
on one of the links below to go to a specific decade of TDS history.
| 1960s |
| 1969: |
TDS begins operations as a provider of local
wireline telephone services by
LeRoy T. Carlson and consists of 10 small, rural-Wisconsin
telephone companies. |
| 1970s |
| 1970: |
The company is renamed Telephone and
Data Systems, Inc., as founder LeRoy T. Carlson foresees
the critical role that digital data will play in the telecommunications
industry. |
| 1974: |
With the acquisition of additional
companies, TDS grows into a company with four distinct regions:
Wisconsin, the Northeast, the Southeast and the Mid-Central
region. |
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TDS pays its first dividend. Since
then, the company has paid dividends on a quarterly basis,
increasing the annual dividend price annually since 1975. |
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TDS grows to 39 companies serving 205
communities in 17 states. |
| 1975: |
TDS reaches 100,000 subscribers. |
| 1976: |
LeRoy T. Carlson leads a contingent
of TDS officials to Japan, where the company purchases its
first four electronic switching systems. TDS expands from
a traditional telephone service provider to a telecommunications
company. |
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TDS acquires Suttle Press and relocates
the printing company from Lawrenceville, Ill. to Waunakee,
Wis. |
| 1979: |
TDS begins its second decade with 47
local offices and more than 171,100 telephones in service.
Of its lines in service, which are primarily in rural areas where
party lines were common, 76 percent are single-party lines. |
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5 |
| 1980s |
| 1981: |
TDS is listed on the American Stock
Exchange (AMEX), where the shares trade under the ticker
'TDS'; one million shares are sold. |
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LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr. becomes president
of TDS. LeRoy T. Carlson remains chief executive officer
and chairman of the TDS board of directors. |
| 1983: |
U.S.
Cellular is founded as a cellular-telephone-service
subsidiary of TDS. |
| 1985: |
TDS Telecom's local telephone operations
begin the year with 59 local offices and 188,000
access lines in 22 states. |
| 1986: |
LeRoy T. Carlson, Jr. becomes president
and chief executive officer of TDS. |
| 1988: |
U.S. Cellular becomes a public company
in an initial public offering of 2.5 million shares. The
company is traded on the American Stock Exchange under the
stock ticker 'USM.' |
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TDS Telecommunications Corporation,
TDS's local
wireline telecommunication service, is formed.
TDS Telecom,
as it is known, is a fully owned subsidiary of TDS. |
| 1989: |
In its 20th year in service, TDS is
the nation's eighth largest cellular company, the eighth
largest paging company, and a mid-sized telecommunications
business with 74 local offices in 27 states serving 264,000
access lines. |
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5 |
| 1990s |
| 1990: |
James Barr III is named president of TDS Telecom. |
| 1993: |
As TDS celebrates 25 years of operations,
it has grown into a company that provides service to more
than 1 million telephone, cellular and paging customers. |
| 1994: |
TDS Telecom acquires USLink, a long-distance
telephone company operating in North Dakota and Minnesota, as part
of an acquisition. USLink later becomes part of TDS Telecom's
competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) operations. |
| 1995: |
U.S. Cellular grows to 500,000 subscribers
and activates its 1,000th
cell site. |
| 1996: |
The Telecommunications Act of 1996
is enacted. With the Act, the Competitive Local Exchange
Carrier (CLEC) concept is introduced, allowing new competitive
local telephone companies to compete against the established
telecommunications providers, using certain network elements
of the local incumbent provider, to provide voice and data
communications services. The term "Incumbent Local Exchange
Carrier" (ILEC) is created to refer to the independent local
telephone companies that formerly had the exclusive right
and responsibility for local transmission and switching
services in a designated service territory. Rural ILECs,
of which TDS Telecom is one, are excluded from having to
provide CLEC access to their network elements. |
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U.S. Cellular signs on its one-millionth
subscriber. |
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Aerial Communications, a TDS subsidiary,
goes public in an initial public offering. |
| 1997: |
TDS Telecom forges an agreement with
EchoStar that allows customers to purchase DISH Network™
satellite TV service through TDS Telecom. |
| 1998: |
American Paging, previously a TDS subsidiary,
merges into TSR Wireless Holdings, a private company. |
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TDS Metrocom begins operations as TDS
Telecom's CLEC subsidiary. |
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U.S. Cellular activates its two-millionth
customer and reaches its 2,000
cell-site milestone. |
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| 2000s |
| 2000: |
TDS Telecom introduces
digital subscriber line (DSL) service. |
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John E. "Jack" Rooney is named president and chief executive
officer of U.S. Cellular. |
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U.S. Cellular signs on its three-millionth
customer. |
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Aerial is merged into VoiceStream. |
| 2001: |
TDS Telecom merges with Chorus Communications
Group. |
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Suttle Press acquires Straus Printing
Company; the company changes its name to
Suttle-Straus, Inc. |
| 2002: |
LeRoy T. Carlson is named chairman
emeritus of the TDS board of directors.
Walter C.D. Carlson is appointed chairman. |
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TDS Telecom acquires Merrimack County
Telephone, Inc. (MCT) and Telecommunication Systems of New
Hampshire, Inc. |
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U.S. Cellular enters the Chicago market
less than four months after acquiring the Chicago
metropolitan trading area (MTA) . |
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U.S. Cellular reaches its four-millionth
customer mark and activates its 3,000th
cell site. |
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5 |
| 2003: |
TDS celebrates 35 years of providing
high-quality, reliable telecommunications service. |
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U.S. Cellular acquires naming rights
to Chicago White Sox ballpark. Formerly known as “Comiskey
Park,” the stadium is officially renamed "U.S. Cellular
Field." |
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U.S. Cellular and Cingular (formerly
AT&T Wireless) exchange
wireless assets. U.S. Cellular receives new
spectrum in markets next to or overlapping
existing operations in 13 states in exchange for its Georgia and
northern Florida licenses. U.S. Cellular builds and
launches 12 new markets from the transaction's assets over
the next two years, including Oklahoma City and St. Louis. |
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U.S. Cellular launches
easyedgeSM, its suite of
wireless data services. |
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2004: |
U.S. Cellular divests its
South Texas markets. |
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TDS Telecom launches TDS ePay, its
online account viewing and management system. |
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Market share for DSL in TDS Telecom's
ILEC markets that offer the high-speed data service surpasses that of cable modem, only four years
after TDS Telecom began offering DSL service. |
| 2005: |
U.S. Cellular reaches its five-million
customer milestone. |
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TDS pays a special common share dividend,
effectively doubling the number of shares of TDS outstanding
common stock. |
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U.S. Cellular enters the St. Louis
market. St. Louis becomes the second largest market U.S.
Cellular serves, after Chicago. |
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U.S. Cellular introduces SpeedTalkSM,
its walkie-talk-like service. |
| 2006: |
U.S. Cellular acquires the remaining 5/6 of TN RSA3 in Central Tennessee.
Strengthening footprint. |
| 2007: |
U.S. Cellular purchases IA RSA 15 in Northwest Iowa.
Strengthens footprint. |
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