All West Uses Next Level Equipment to Capture 70% of Homes Offered with Digital TV Services.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ROHNERT PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 5, 2002

Bundled Telephone, Internet and Digital TV Services Help Telco

Grab Customers from Local Cable, Satellite Competition

Equipment and expertise from Next Level Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTV) has helped incumbent telco All West Communications utilize its existing copper wires to deliver a bundle of integrated digital TV, voice, and high-speed data services to it customers. A full 70 percent of the subscribers to whom All West has extended its video service offering have accepted, and All West plans to continue its roll out of bundled video services, eventually reaching out to more than 16,000 potential customers. All West's results prove that telcos can provide a bundle of services, including digital TV, that subscribers find more popular than those offered by other service providers like satellite and cable companies.

"While other vendors were only talking about video, Next Level gave us equipment that makes it possible for us to use existing copper lines to offer competitive broadband services at affordable prices," said Tony DiStefano, vice president of All West Communications. "We have a substantial backlog of customers who want bundled entertainment and communications services, as opposed to individual services from different companies. Our installation crew can barely keep up with demand. There's no law that says video must be delivered via coaxial cable and we're proving we can deliver it just as well or better over copper phone lines."

Profitable Video Services in Two Years

As part of initial testing of the bundled service offering, All West used Next Level's access platform to provide digital TV, high-speed Internet and voice services to a group of international visitors at the recent Olympic games in Salt Lake City. The trial worked perfectly and All West began commercial deployment of its new service bundle in April. Next Level's platform allows All West to integrate all three services -- a key weapon in beating local cable companies. All West can charge its customers for telephone, TV and Internet services on a single bill, another popular feature that has further driven demand for bundled services. Even with a small staff, All West has been able to install these combined services to eight customers a day and is quickly recouping its investment in Next Level's equipment. All West estimates that it will turn a profit on video services in less than two years.

"Our telco customers have told us what they need to compete with cable companies -- an end-to-end access platform that delivers multiple services over existing copper, is cost effective and is easy to deploy," said J. Michael Norris, chief executive officer at Next Level. "We designed our system from the ground up to include video services. With more than 45 commercial deployments of video-inclusive bundled services worldwide, our platform has proven itself to be a compelling and viable option for telcos today."

About Next Level Communications

Next Level is a world leader in integrated broadband access platforms for delivering any combination of voice, high-speed data and multi-stream digital video services into the home or office. Next Level offers a unified multi-service, multi-band platform that lets communications service providers enter a more profitable broadband market segment by delivering a virtual communications and entertainment center over existing copper telephone lines. Next Level's highly scalable networking products, management tools and support assistance allow communications service providers to deliver a range of subscriber services, and realize significant new revenue streams. Founded in 1994 and headquartered in Rohnert Park, Calif., the company has deployed its state-of-the-art systems for more than 100 communications service providers worldwide. For additional information, visit http://www.nlc.com.

Next Level Communications and the NLC logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Next Level Communications in the United States and other countries.

The securities sold in this private placement have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933 and may not be offered or sold in the United States in the absence of an effective registration statement or exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

This release contains "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements are generally preceded by words including, without limitation, "will," "plans," "expects," "believes," "anticipates" or "intends." Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements in this release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations. Factors that realistically could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements are set forth in "Risk Factors" in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001.