Cincinnati Bell Names President and Chief Operating Officer of Cincinnati Bell Telephone.

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 1999--Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE:CSN) announced today that Richard S. Pontin will become President and Chief Operating Officer of Cincinnati Bell Telephone.

Pontin will provide leadership and direction for all aspects of Cincinnati Bell Telephone. He will report to Richard G. Ellenberger, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cincinnati Bell Inc.

"Rick Pontin, with his extensive experience in the communications industry, is uniquely qualified to build and implement bold plans designed to take the company into the next century as a leading integrated communications services and data solutions provider," said Ellenberger. "His leadership will be a tremendous asset to Cincinnati Bell as we move into an era of increased competition. We are pleased to have a world-class communications leader join our management team."

Pontin, 45, has 18 years experience in the communications industry starting at AT&T. For the past two years, he has been the vice president of engineering and operations at Nextel Communications, a national provider of digital wireless services headquartered in McLean, Virginia.

Pontin was a key player in the building of Nextel's organization and network, where he established the network engineering function, oversaw development of the national network operations center and built the procurement and construction program management functions. He also served as head of field engineering and operations, building and operating wireless systems throughout the northern United States.

Prior to that he held several key leadership positions at MCI Communications in engineering, operations, international business development and national account sales. At MCI, Pontin was vice president of data services where he was responsible for operations and worldwide customer support for MCI's data services and Internet businesses. He also served as vice president of global alliances where he led MCI's efforts to implement and operate partnerships and joint ventures with international telecommunications companies.

Pontin is a native of Philadelphia and holds a bachelor of science degree and a master of business administration degree from Drexel University. The Pontin family will reside in Cincinnati.

Cincinnati Bell Telephone is a subsidiary of Cincinnati Bell Inc., a full service, integrated communications company that provides competitive local communications as well as Internet, wireless, entertainment, directory and data networking services to customers in the Cincinnati, Ohio, metropolitan area and in many other Midwestern cities. Cincinnati Bell is on the World Wide Web at www.cincinnatibell.com.