Covad Brings Broadband Access to the Internet Via DSL to Chicago Area Consumers.

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 28, 1999--

Covad Offers Services for Small-to-Medium-Sized Businesses,

Large Corporations and Residential Consumers

Covad Communications (Nasdaq:COVD) today announced the availability of its Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)-based services for both business and residential customers in the Chicago metropolitan area.

DSL technology allows for high-speed Internet access using existing copper wires found in nearly all businesses and homes today. Covad's TeleSpeed(R) and TeleSurfer(SM) offerings provide fast, digital communications services that connect businesses and consumers to their Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and employees who work at home to their corporate networks.

"For the first time, residents of the Chicago area have a wide range of broadband solutions, providing alternatives to the cable or telephone monopolies," said Bob Grant, president and general manager of Covad's Central Region. "Covad's solution offers users secure, 'always-on,' high-speed Internet access at speeds much faster than a typical dial-up modem connection and much less expensive than ISDN."

Covad's TeleSpeed service provides small and medium-sized businesses with high-speed Internet access and provides teleworkers with high-speed access to the corporate Local Area Network (LAN). TeleSpeed service is up to 25 times faster than 56K modem connections and up to 12 times faster than ISDN. Users do not have to wait to connect and there are never any busy signals. Once installed, the high-speed connection is always on and always available.

Covad's TeleSurfer service provides residential users privacy and reliability advantages over services offered by cable companies. Unlike cable systems where several neighbors share the same line, DSL's dedicated connection means that access speed does not deteriorate as more users log on.

DSL offers better security than other broadband alternatives by utilizing a point-to-point network connection rather than a shared network. The DSL dedicated connection also eliminates the need to dial in each time users want to browse the Internet or download e-mail, eliminating delays or busy signals.

Covad's service is a flat-rate service, thus eliminating the costly and often unpredictable per-minute usage fees charged by dial-up and ISDN service providers. Customers can choose from a wide range of TeleSpeed and TeleSurfer services based on their budgets, needs and usage patterns: -0-

--   TeleSpeed 1.5 -- download speeds up to 1.5 Mbps and upstream
     speeds up to 384 Kbps
--   TeleSpeed 1.1 -- speeds up to 1.1 Mbps in each direction
--   TeleSpeed 768 -- speeds up to 768 Kbps in each direction
--   TeleSpeed 384 -- speeds up to 384 Kbps in each direction
--   TeleSpeed 192 -- speeds up to 192 Kbps in each direction
--   TeleSpeed 144 -- speeds up to 144 Kbps in each direction
--   TeleSurfer -- 384 Kbps download/144 Kbps upstream
--   TeleSurfer Pro -- 768 Kbps download/384 Kbps upstream

     Covad is partnering with leading regional and national ISPs in
the area, making it easy for businesses to order, install and manage
their high-speed Internet access solutions. Covad partners in this
region include:

--   Concentric Network
--   Flashcom
--   Cin.Net
--   Starnet
--   NetSentry
--   Internet Illinois

-0-

"Our partnership with Covad is accelerating the availability of DSL services, and Chicago is the next stop in our nationwide roll-out," said Mark Fisher, senior vice president and general manager of Concentric's network services division. "DSL is a fast, affordable service for small businesses, and provides Concentric the foundation on which to deliver other value-added services such as Web hosting."

About Covad

Covad Communications company is a leading high-speed Internet and network access provider offering DSL services through Internet Service Providers to small and medium businesses and consumers, and sold directly to large enterprise customers. The service will be available within Covad's existing nine regions currently encompassing 25 MSAs.

Service is available in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Riverside and Orange County areas, Seattle, New York, Boston, the Washington, D.C./Baltimore corridor, Chicago and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. Covad has announced plans to deploy its networks in a total of 22 regions, encompassing 51 metropolitan statistical areas nationwide.

Covad Communications Company and its affiliates doing business as Covad Communications Company, are wholly owned subsidiaries of Covad Communications Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:COVD). Corporate headquarters is located at 2330 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95050. Telephone: [phone] or 1-888-GO-COVAD; Fax: [phone]. Web Site: www.covad.com.

Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation

Reform Act of 1995:

The statements contained in this release which are not historical facts may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to deployment of the company's network in new and existing regions and the timing and breadth of coverage in each region. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the company's dependence on strategic third parties to market and resell its services, intense competition for the company's service offerings, dependence on growth in demand for DSL-based services, availability of collocation space and facilities, ability to manage and scale operations, and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The company disclaims any obligation to update information contained in any forward-looking statement.