McLeodUSA Adds Home/Office Networking and Wi-Fi Connections to Preferred Advantage DSL Services

Business Wire, May 10, 2004

Business Editors

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2004

Netopia Gateways Selected for ADSL and 3-D Reach Wireless Technology

McLeodUSA Incorporated (Nasdaq:MCLD), one of the nation's largest independent competitive telecommunications services providers, today announced expansion of its Preferred Advantage(R) DSL services to include Home/Office networking and wireless service. McLeodUSA has selected Netopia (Nasdaq:NTPA), a market leader in broadband gateways and service delivery software, to provide the Netopia 3341 and the Wi-Fi CERTIFIED(TM) 3347W ADSL Wi-Fi Gateway with 3-DReach(TM) for high-speed Internet access and wireless networking for residential and small business customers.

"Providing our customers with the services they need is a key priority at McLeodUSA," said Chris A. Davis, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of McLeodUSA. "Adding home/office and Wi-Fi networking to our broadband service offerings now allows our DSL customers to experience high-speed connections, enhanced security and increased productivity, at very competitive prices."

The Netopia 3341 is an economical, compact and feature-rich broadband gateway targeted for single PC/broadband device users. McLeodUSA will include the Netopia 3341 ADSL Gateway self-install kit with Preferred Advantage DSL for residential customers.

The Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 3347W ADSL Wireless Gateway with 4-port Ethernet switch, a next-generation wireless solution, offers the ability to network multiple devices together for home/office networking to efficiently share the same secure, high-speed broadband connection. Additionally, the 3347 Gateway offers Wi-Fi/wireless and wireline interfaces, which make both home/office networking easy, flexible, and affordable. The Netopia 3347W ADSL Reach Wireless Gateway self-install kit will be included with Preferred Advantage DSL for small business customers.

"We are very pleased to expand our relationship with McLeodUSA," said Dano Ybarra, Vice-President of Marketing, Netopia. "Our easy to install ADSL products for residential customers and 3-D Reach Wi-Fi technologies, with industry leading wireless range and performance for business customers, will provide McLeodUSA customers additional world-class technology, support and service."

With the launch of these new products, customers will receive the Netopia 3341 ADSL Gateway and free activation when they sign up for Preferred Advantage DSL services under a 1-year minimum term agreement. Small business customers will receive the 3347W and free activation under a 1-year minimum term. Residential DSL customers may add wireless networking capability with the 3347W Gateway for $50. These promotions expire June 30th, 2004.

McLeodUSA Preferred Advantage DSL services are currently available in selected markets and central offices across McLeodUSA's 25-state service areas. For more information on McLeodUSA Preferred Advantage DSL services and all other products and services, please contact a McLeodUSA Customer Care Representative at 1-800-593-1177 or visit the Company's Web site at www.mcleodusa.com.

About McLeodUSA

McLeodUSA provides integrated communications services, including local services, in 25 Midwest, Southwest, Northwest and Rocky Mountain states. The Company is a facilities-based telecommunications provider with, as of March 31, 2004, 38 ATM switches, 40 voice switches, 667 collocations, 435 DSLAMs and 2,995 employees. As of April 16, 2002, Forstmann Little & Co. became a 58% shareholder in the Company. Visit the Company's Web site at www.mcleodusa.com.

Some of the statements in this press release include statements about our future expectations. Statements that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" for the purpose of the safe harbor provided by Section 21E of the Exchange Act and Section 27A of the Securities Act. Such statements may include projections of financial and operational results and goals, including revenue, EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, profitability, savings and cash. In some cases, you can identify these so-called "forward-looking statements" by our use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict", "project", "intend" or "potential" or the negative of those words and other comparable words. These forward-looking statements are subject to known as well as unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations. Our expectations are based on various factors and assumptions and reflect only our predictions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statement include technological, regulatory, public policy or other developments in our industry, availability and adequacy of capital resources, current and future economic conditions, the existence of strategic alliances, our ability to generate cash, our ability to implement process and network improvements, our ability to attract and retain customers, our ability to migrate traffic to appropriate platforms and changes in the competitive climate in which we operate. These and other risks are described in more detail in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise.