Covad Communications Installs 20,000th DSL Line With San Francisco Installation, Covad Meets Major Industry Milestone.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 29, 1999--

Covad Communications (Nasdaq:COVD), a leading broadband access provider, today announced the installation of its 20,000th DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) line.

This announcement places Covad as having the largest number of installed lines for a national provider, evidence of the company's ability to provision high-speed, always-connected DSL services.

This 20,000th milestone represents a growth rate of 133 percent over the end of March 1999 and 413 percent growth from the end of 1998. It highlights Covad's leadership among national providers in its ability to scale with the industry's growth, and the company's success in managing the installation and provisioning process working hand-in-hand with its Internet service providers (ISPs). Currently, Covad's network passes 18 million homes and businesses across the country.

"Covad has the ability to meet growing industry demand with first class services," said Robert E. Knowling, Covad's president and chief executive officer. "DSL is a provisioning challenge for everyone, but Covad does what it takes to get the job done better than any other company."

Covad's 20,000th line in service is located in San Francisco, California. Alexis Denny, owner of Normandy International, Inc., utilizes Covad's DSL services to help manage her international television sports program distribution business. Ms. Denny has access to DSL through Concentric Network Corp. (Nasdaq:CNCX), one of Covad's national ISPs.

From her home office in San Francisco, Ms. Denny connects to employees located in New York and Virginia and clients on six continents. In business for nine years, she represents athletes and distributes materials on her 386 kbps DSL line to television stations throughout the world. She upgraded from an ISDN line running at 128 kbps.

"I'm thrilled to be Covad's 20,000th line in service, and I'm sure many more will be right behind me," said Ms. Denny. "If I had known it was this good, I would have been the 20th line. The always-on service and the amazing efficiency of the installation and support are better than I ever received from other types of Internet access."

In addition to running her business on-line, Ms. Denny enjoys the network speed when shopping on-line. With mobility limited due to a recent mountain bike accident, she is using the web to purchase everything from computers to toiletries.

"On-line shopping is something I just won't do at 56k speeds," she said.

Covad's DSL service allows high-speed access to the Internet and corporate networks through the copper phone wires found in businesses and homes today. DSL offers customers a dedicated and secure data connection. Since this high-speed connection is always available, the need to dial in each time a user wants to browse the Internet or download email is eliminated as well as the delays, busy signals and non-connects typical in dial-up service.

About Covad

Covad Communications is a leading broadband access provider of high-speed Internet and network access. It offers DSL services through Internet Service Providers to small and medium-sized businesses and home users, and direct to large enterprise customers.

Covad services are currently available in 17 regions, encompassing 40 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). Service is available in the regions encompassing the San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, Seattle, Sacramento, New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Diego, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, Portland (OR), and Raleigh/Durham metropolitan areas.

Covad has announced its plans to offer its services in a total of 22 regions, which would encompass 51 MSAs nationwide by the end of the year. Covad Communications 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: 1-888-GO-COVAD. 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, loops 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.