Citizens Utilities Signs Definitive Agreement to Purchase Approximately 60,000 Telephone Access Lines from GTE in Nebraska.

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1999--

Citizens Utilities (NYSE: CZN, CZNPr) announced today that it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase 58,723 telephone access lines in Nebraska from GTE Corporation (NYSE: GTE) for $204 million in cash. Citizens expects that the acquisition, which is subject to various state and federal regulatory approvals, will be completed in 2000, at which time the total access lines should number approximately 60,000.

Citizens agreed in May and June of this year to purchase 187,000 and 530,000 access lines from GTE and U S WEST respectively in 10 states, including Nebraska. Citizens will have over 70,000 access lines in Nebraska after the transactions close.

Citizens Utilities provides telecommunications services and public services including gas distribution, electric distribution, water distribution and wastewater treatment services to approximately 1.9 million customers in 22 states. Citizens also owns 83% 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.

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