Consumers' Voice Demands Full Disclosure of New US West Rural Sell-Off Plan.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 22, 2000

"Job Posting Indicates US West to Ditch More Rural Communities;

Congress Should Postpone any Consideration of Telecom Legislation

Until US WEST Comes Clean" says Consumers' Voice

Consumers' Voice today revealed that US WEST has plans to resume its massive sell-off of rural consumers by posting a rural sell-off job description in its corporate website.

The job description includes "ensuring the timely analysis and disposition of rural exchange assets up to and including possible trade or sale."

In recent years the company has sold over 600 rural exchanges affecting more than one million consumers.

"This is an outrage," said Consumers' Voice Executive Director Bob Johnson. "For decades US WEST has operated a government-granted monopoly. Rural consumers helped pay to build this network. Now they're being treated like sacks of cement, moved from one company to another with no say in the decision and no benefit from the transaction.

"Even worse, US WEST has been the primary advocate for new legislation in Congress that would blow a huge loophole in the 1996 Telecom Act and would crush budding competition in high-speed data service. Their Number One reason for changing the law is to allow them to serve rural consumers better.

"What rank hypocrisy! How can US WEST possibly claim to care about serving rural consumers better when it's already had a fire sale on its rural exchanges and is planning to dump even more?" Johnson demanded.

Johnson suggested the Congress demand answers from US WEST to the following six questions before it even considers any telecom-related legislation:

1. Exactly which exchanges in which states is US WEST considering

in its next round of rural sell-offs?

2. How many rural consumers will be affected?

3. How much money does US WEST plan to make from the sell offs?

4. What does US WEST plan to do with the profits? Will it be

invested in big cities outside its region? In systems

overseas?

5. How does selling US WEST's rural exchanges affect the

"Digital Divide?" Will it make matters worse?

6. How does US WEST justify lobbying Congress for major changes

in telecom law at the same time it's dumping rural consumers

by the truckload?

"It is time for US WEST to stop playing games with their customers and with members of Congress," said Johnson. "This company can't have it both ways. If it lobbies for changes in the law to better serve rural consumers, then it can't sell off rural consumers in wave after wave. And certainly consumers should have some say in how they are treated," Johnson concluded.