Citizens Communications Completes Acquisition of Illinois Exchanges.

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 30, 2000

Citizens Communications (NYSE:CZN) announced today that it has completed the purchase of approximately 113,000 telephone access lines in Illinois from Verizon Communications. The purchase is part of 1999 agreements to acquire nearly 1 million telephone access lines from GTE (now Verizon) and U S WEST (now Qwest). The Illinois transaction, the fourth of these purchases to close, follows the closing of transactions in Nebraska, Minnesota and North Dakota.

On July 12, 2000, Citizens agreed to acquire Frontier Corp's 1.1 million telephone access lines from Global Crossing Ltd. This acquisition, along with the acquisitions agreed to with Verizon and Qwest, will bring the number of access lines that Citizens will serve to more than 3 million. The majority of these transactions are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2001.

About Citizens Communications

Citizens Communications serves 1.3 million access lines in 17 states. In 1999 and 2000, Citizens agreed to purchase more than 2 million additional access lines in 21 states in transactions that began to close in June of 2000. Citizens also owns 86 percent of Electric Lightwave, Inc. (NASDAQ:ELIX), a facilities-based, integrated communications provider that offers a broad range of services to telecommunications-intensive businesses throughout the United States. More information about Citizens can be found at www.czn.net.

This document contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the statements. These and all forward-looking statements (including oral representations) are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the company. All forward-looking statements may differ from actual results because of, but not limited to, changes in the local and overall economy, changes in market conditions for debt and equity securities, the nature and pace of technological changes, the number and effectiveness of competitors in the company's markets, success in overall strategy, changes in legal or regulatory policy, changes in legislation, the company's ability to identify future markets and successfully expand existing ones, the mix of products and services offered in the company's target markets, the effects of acquisitions and dispositions and the ability to effectively integrate businesses acquired. These important factors should be considered in evaluating any statement contained herein and/or made by the company or on its behalf. The foregoing information should be read in conjunction with the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.