FOR IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION

PROPERTY OWNERS WITHIN ARIEL TO COUGAR- FIBER OPTIC

RE: TDS SERVICE

Good afternoon to our Port District residents-

The Port of Woodland was made aware today that TDS Telecom is out within Yale and Cougar “connecting” properties to fiber optic service. THIS IS NOT THE PORT OF WOODLAND PROJECT. It should be made clear, the Port of Woodland does not have an agreement with TDS to provide service. TDS is not part of our project and is not our contractor or a service provider. As it is not part of the Port of Woodland’s project, we cannot guarantee open access service- which means that it would only be subject to TDS service and is not connected to our future colocation site. The equipment and lines are property of TDS. We have had no notification about this effort. We are attempting to get to the bottom of this situation.

On December 12, 2022, the Port of Woodland notified TDS as well as other providers, of the Port’s intention to provide fiber optics to the home between Ariel and Cougar. On January 6, 2023 we received communication with TDS that had no plans to improve service or meet upload or download speed service in the project area of 100 megabytes download and 20 megabytes upload by 2028. They did not indicate that they are providing broadband (fiber) service in a portion or all of the project area. They also did not indicate that they would be providing it before March 2024.

We want to ensure this is clear to our residents awaiting service between Ariel to Cougar. If you are contacted by TDS, this is not with or connected to the Port of Woodland project in any way. Please ensure, if you are looking into it, to protect yourselves with seeing any and all agreements especially if they are entering your property and installing any type of product.