McLeodUSA Announces New National Data Network Team

Business Wire, April 13, 2000

Business Editors

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 13, 2000

Top Industry Talent Joins Roy Wilkens

McLeodUSA Incorporated (Nasdaq:MCLD), one of the nation's fastest growing telecommunications providers, today announced the appointment of its national Data Network executive team assembled by Roy Wilkens, McLeodUSA CEO of Data Network operations.

All six executives named to the Data Network team are joining McLeodUSA from leading telecommunications companies and share a common experience: each executive previously worked with Roy Wilkens as part of the WilTel organization, founded in 1985 and purchased by MCI WorldCom in 1995.

Leading the team as Chief Operating Officer is John Barnett, Jr. "John brings tremendous experience and a proven record of success in the domestic wholesale data networking business," stated Wilkens. "His expertise will be invaluable as we move to become the pre-eminent provider of wholesale data services in the U.S." The following Data Network executives join Barnett:

-- David Boatner, Sales & Marketing

-- Charles Emde, Information Systems

-- Lawrence Littlefield, Jr., Finance & Accounting

-- Edward Vendley, Human Resources

-- Todd Wilkens, Engineering & Operations.

Commenting on the above management team, McLeodUSA Chairman and CEO Clark McLeod stated, "This team shares a history of success in the industry. They know each other well, respect each other's skills, and share Roy's bias toward action. Roy has been with McLeodUSA for only 90 days. The merger closed just two weeks ago, and he already has the nucleus of his top-level management team formed and ready for action."

"The strength of this management team is in our knowledge of the industry and our understanding of each other," stated Wilkens. "We have all worked together in the past and our success in building WilTel demonstrates our ability to develop an industry leading data network. Using the recent Splitrock acquisition as the core of our organization, we have the assets and management team to build a next-generation network and systems. We are excited to begin working as a team again. Our existing relationships will allow us to focus on making significant strides right out of the gate."

"The demand for advanced data capability doubles each year. We are at the threshold of a transformation in our society that will depend on next-generation technology," stated Clark McLeod. "The leadership team we announced today has the opportunity to be one of the leading providers in this space."

The Data Network division of McLeodUSA includes the 420 employees of Splitrock Services, Inc. which was recently acquired by McLeodUSA Incorporated. Together the combined company will have more than 350 ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) switches, 26,000 route miles of fiber optic network, and 27 voice switches. Currently, Splitrock provides dial-up and dedicated data services to competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), Internet service providers (ISPs) and large multi-state business customers. The Splitrock network is capable of carrying integrated voice, data and video signals to 90 percent of the nation's population in 800 cities across all 50 states.

(Note: Biographical Sketches of R. Wilkens, J. Barnett, D.

Boatner, C. Emde, L. Littlefield, and T. Wilkens are available on

the McLeodUSA web site www.mcleodusa.com as a part of this press

release posting.)

McLeodUSA, one of the nation's fastest growing telecommunications companies, provides integrated telecommunications services to customers in 14 Midwest and Rocky Mountain states, with 7 additional expansion states to be added this year. The recent acquisition of Splitrock Services, Inc. expands the McLeodUSA marketplace for advanced data and Internet services to all 50 states. McLeodUSA is a facilities-based telecommunications provider with more than 350 ATM switches, 27 voice switches, 679,000 local lines, 26,000 route miles of fiber optic network and more than 8,500 employees. In the next 12 months, the Company's publishing subsidiaries plan to distribute more than 25 million white and yellow page directories in 23 states, expected to reach 43 million people.

Some of the statements contained in this press release discuss future expectations, contain projections of results of operations or financial condition or state other forward-looking information. Those statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the statements. The "forward-looking" information is based on various factors and was derived using numerous assumptions. In some cases, you can identify these so-called forward-looking statements by words like "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "intends," "projects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue" or the negative of those words and other comparable words. You should be aware that those statements only reflect the predictions of McLeodUSA. Actual events or results may differ substantially. Important factors that could cause actual results of McLeodUSA to be materially different from the forward-looking statements include availability of financing and regulatory approvals, the number of potential customers in a target market, the existence of strategic alliances or relationships, technological, regulatory or other developments in the industry, changes in the competitive climate in which McLeodUSA operates and the emergence of future opportunities. These and other applicable risks are summarized under the caption "Risk Factors" in the McLeodUSA Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, which is filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.