LUMOS NETWORKS CLOSES ON THE ACQUISITION OF DC74 DATA CENTERS

Enhances Recently Announced North Carolina Market with 3 Data Centers in the High Growth Charlotte Market

WAYNESBORO, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Lumos Networks Corp. (“Lumos Networks”) (NASDAQ:LMOS, news, filings), a leading fiber-based service provider in the mid-Atlantic region, announced today that it has simultaneously signed and closed a transaction to acquire Charlotte, North Carolina based DC74 Data Centers (“DC74”). Under the terms of the agreement, Lumos will acquire DC74 for a total cash consideration of $23.5 -$28.5 million, depending on future growth earn-out projections, implying a multiple of approximately 8-10x Adjusted EBITDA in 2016.

“I am excited to announce the acquisition of DC74’s 3 data centers and welcome the entire DC74 team into Lumos,” said Timothy G. Biltz, President and CEO of Lumos Networks. “Like Lumos, DC74 targets ‘large locals’ as customers, namely Enterprises with strong local/regional presence and focuses on securing long-term contracts. This acquisition increases the number of Lumos operated co-location facilities to 10 and we look forward to continuing to add expertise and capabilities in this strategic data segment. Evidence strongly suggests that co-location services drive customer stickiness, wallet share and significant increases in bandwidth usage.”

“Over 80% of DC74’s revenue is derived from co-location, bandwidth and cross-connects with the remainder from managed services and managed hosting at its 3 data centers,” continued Mr. Biltz. “The combination of DC74 and recently acquired Clarity Communications increases our annualized data revenue in the North Carolina market to more than $10 million, most of which is tied to Enterprise. This represents a strong advancement towards reaching the scale necessary for Lumos to become a pure-play communications infrastructure bandwidth company. We believe that the combination of DC74/Clarity is accretive to our overall Adjusted EBITDA multiple and we viewed them in tandem during the parallel transaction processes.”

Tareq Amin, CEO and Founder of DC74 noted, “I have been impressed in Lumos’ ability to execute its transformation into a communications infrastructure player and we are excited to be on the Lumos team. DC74 has 12 carriers inter-connecting at our facilities, including Level 3, Cogent, Zayo and AT&T, the most of any data center in Charlotte. Charlotte is a high growth market and I look forward to working with the Lumos/Clarity teams to accelerate our growth in the coming years and contribute towards the expansion of our North Carolina footprint and capabilities.”

About Lumos Networks

Lumos Networks is a leading fiber-based service provider in the Mid-Atlantic region serving Carrier, Enterprise and Data Center customers, offering end-to-end connectivity in 24 markets in Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and Kentucky. With a fiber network of 9,204 fiber route miles and 475,507 total fiber strand miles, Lumos Networks connects 1,297 unique Fiber to the Cell sites, 1,642 total FTTC connections, 36 data centers, including 7 company owned co-location facilities, 1,984 on-net buildings and approximately 3,300 total on-net locations. In 2015, Lumos Networks generated over $114 million in Data revenue over our fiber network. Detailed information about Lumos Networks is available at WWW.LUMOSNETWORKS.COM.

About DC74

Founded in 2008, DC74 provides high quality co-location, disaster recovery, managed services and managed hosting at its 3 fiber-fed facilities in Charlotte. The company has been named to the Charlotte Business Journal list of the 50 fastest growing private companies in Charlotte for four consecutive years. DC74 has 42,000 square feet of secure data center space. DC74 has peering relationships with all major providers and 12 carriers inter-connect at DC74, the most of any facility in Charlotte. The company holds board positions with the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) and the Charlotte Regional Technology Executive Council (CRTEC).

SPECIAL NOTE FROM THE COMPANY REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements about our beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements and should be evaluated as such. The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “targets,” “projects,” “should,” “may,” “will” and similar words and expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect, among other things, our current expectations, plans and strategies, and anticipated financial results, all of which are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Many of these risks are beyond our ability to control or predict. Because of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Furthermore, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. We do not undertake any obligation to update or review any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Important factors with respect to any such forward-looking statements, including certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited to: the impact of the acquisitions of Clarity Communications and DC74 Data Centers on our operations; rapid development and intense competition with resulting pricing pressure in the telecommunications and high speed data transport industry; our ability to grow our data business on an organic or inorganic basis in order to offset expected revenue declines in legacy voice and access products; our ability to obtain new carrier contracts or expand services under existing carrier contracts at competitive pricing levels to offset churn and achieve revenue growth from our carrier businesses; our ability to separate our legacy business on a timely basis; our ability to effectively allocate capital and timely implement network expansion plans necessary to accommodate organic growth initiatives; our ability to complete customer installations in a timely manner; adverse economic conditions; operating and financial restrictions imposed by our senior credit facility and our unsecured debt obligations; our cash and capital requirements; our ability to maintain and enhance our network; the potential to experience a high rate of customer turnover; federal and state regulatory fees, requirements and developments; our reliance on certain suppliers and vendors; and other unforeseen difficulties that may occur. These risks and uncertainties are not intended to represent a complete list of all risks and uncertainties inherent in our business, and should be read in conjunction with the more detailed cautionary statements and risk factors included in our SEC filings, including our Annual Report filed on Form 10-K.