Madison River Communications

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For Immediate Release: July 26, 2000
Mebane, North Carolina
MADISON RIVER COMMUNICATIONS ANNOUNCES SECOND QUARTER AND SIX MONTH FINANCIAL AND OPERATING RESULTS
Contact: Paul Sunu, Chief Financial Officer at (919) 563-8222 or Kevin Hancock, Marketing Manager at (919) 563-8227 Bond Ticker: MADRIV
July 26, 2000

Mebane, North Carolina - July 26, 2000 - Madison River Communications, an established and rapidly growing integrated communications provider, today announced its financial and operating results for the second quarter and six months ended June 30, 2000.

2000 Second Quarter Highlights

· 149% increase in revenues to $41.7 million from $16.7   million

· 126% increase in EBITDA to $13.9 million from $6.1 million

· Network Service Center in Plano, Texas opens and assumes   network surveillance and customer service responsibilities for   all of Madison River Communications

· A total of 2,351 route miles of fiber lit and operational

· Approximately 200,000 voice and data lines in service

Revenues grew to $41.7 million in the second quarter of 2000 from $16.7 million in the second quarter of 1999, representing an increase of 149%. The inclusion of the operations for two acquisitions, Coastal Communications (acquired in March 2000) and Gulf Coast Services (acquired in September 1999), was the primary reason for the increase in revenues. EBITDA (operating income before depreciation and amortization) increased 126% to $13.9 million in the second quarter of 2000 from $6.1 million in the same period of 1999, primarily as the result of the acquisitions. Excluding the effect of these acquisitions, the Company's revenues increased 6%, or $1.1 million, and EBITDA decreased 35%, or $2.2 million, from the second quarter of 1999. The decrease in EBITDA is a result of the Company's expenditures towards its expansion operations.

Commenting on the progress Madison River Communications made in the second quarter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, J. Stephen Vanderwoude, stated, "Our management team continued to execute our business plan and achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. The highlight of the second quarter was the opening of our Network Support Center (NSC) in Texas that we are pleased to report was completed on schedule. The NSC is a tremendous, state of the art facility, providing 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week monitoring capability of our entire network. Our product and service delivery will be monitored directly to our customers' sites, allowing us to respond quickly to resolve any service situations. Having the NSC operational is an important milestone for us as we continue the process of ramping up revenues on our fiber network. We have been very successful in our sales efforts to date. With the anticipated lighting of the remaining western portion of our fiber network in the third quarter, we are looking forward to what we believe will be continued sales and installation of new lines during the remainder of the year as we build momentum going into 2001."

As of June 30, 2000, the Company reported that 2,351 route miles of its fiber were lit from a total of 2,767 route miles. Included in the totals are 1,667 route miles of lit fiber and 416 route miles of dark fiber that form the southeastern portion of the long haul network running from Atlanta to Dallas and Houston. The Company anticipates lighting the remaining 416 route miles in the third quarter.

On a sequential quarter basis, comparing the results for the second quarter of 2000 to the pro forma results for the first quarter of 2000 (* see "Note" below), EBITDA increased 9%, or $1.1 million, on an increase in revenues of 2%, or $0.9 million.

2000 Six Month Highlights

· 121% increase in revenues to $73.3 million from $33.2   million

· 76% increase in EBITDA to $23.1 million from $13.2 million

For the first six months of 2000, revenues grew to $73.3 million from $33.2 million for the same period of 1999, an increase of 121%. The increase is primarily the result of reflecting the operations of the two acquisitions in the 2000 operating results. EBITDA increased 76% to $23.1 million in the first six months of 2000 from $13.2 million in the same period of 1999. Excluding the effect of these acquisitions, the Company's revenues increased 8%, or $2.6 million, and EBITDA decreased 35%, or $4.6 million, from the first six months of 1999. The decrease in EBITDA is a result of the Company's expenditures towards its expansion operations.

The Local Telecommunications Division (LTD) reported revenues of $72.3 million for the six months ended June 30, 2000 and EBITDA of $30.4 million, an EBITDA margin of 42%. The LTD reported that access lines increased in the second quarter to 195,639 lines in service from 193,337 lines in service at the end of the first quarter, an increase of 1.2%. Of the 195,639 total access lines, 139,604 are residential and 56,035 are business lines. In addition, the Company has approximately 54,400 long distance accounts, 27,200 dial-up Internet and 1,800 DSL subscribers at June 30, 2000. In addition, penetration rates for vertical services such as voice mail, caller ID, call waiting and call forwarding continued to increase in the second quarter.

The Integrated Communications Division (ICD) reported six month revenues of $1.0 million and an EBITDA loss of $7.3 million. As of June 30, 2000, the ICD had sold a total of 6,152 lines consisting of 3,103 voice lines, 105 data lines and 2,944 PRI channels. The ICD currently serves three markets - two in North Carolina (the Research Triangle area including Raleigh, Durham and Cary and the Triad area including Greensboro and Winston-Salem) and Peoria, Illinois. The ICD anticipates serving 10 markets by the end of 2000, with the addition of Atlanta, Biloxi, Dallas, Houston, Mobile, Montgomery and Pensacola. To support this growth, the ICD anticipates that its current sales organization of 47 people will expand to approximately 150 people by year-end.

"At the end of the second quarter, we had $79.2 million in cash on hand plus the $24.0 million commitment from our equity investors as well as $38.8 million in undrawn credit facilities," stated Paul H. Sunu, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He further added, "We continue to make a significant investment in our business, spending approximately $21.8 million in the second quarter on capital expenditures. Our investments are in line with our models which reflect total capital expenditures of approximately $80.0 million in 2000."

2000 Six Month Highlights - Pro Forma (** see Note below)

· Pro forma revenues of $82.4 million, a 2% decrease from   1999 pro forma six month revenues of $83.6 million

· Pro forma EBITDA of $28.5 million, a 4% decrease from pro   forma 1999 six months EBITDA of $29.6 million

On a pro forma basis, the Company reported revenues of $82.4 million in the first six months of 2000. This is a 2% decrease from pro forma revenues of $83.6 million for the first six months of 1999. Excluding the effects of $4.1 million in fiber construction revenue reported in the 1999 results for which no comparable revenues were earned for 2000, pro forma revenues increased 4%.

For the first six months of 2000, the Company reported pro forma EBITDA of $28.5 million as compared to $29.6 million in the same period for 1999, a decrease of 4%. Pro forma EBITDA in the first six months of 2000 was lower by $6.7 million as a result of the Company's expenditures towards its expansion operations compared to a $1.2 million EBITDA loss in the first six months of 1999. Excluding the effects of a $0.5 million pro forma EBITDA loss from fiber construction operations reported in the 1999 results for which no comparable operations were reported for 2000, the decrease was 5%.

Second Quarter Operational Highlights

The Company announced the completion and opening of its NSC in Plano, Texas. The NSC assumed network surveillance and customer service responsibilities for all Madison River Communications on June 10, 2000.

Located in the telecommunications/technology corridor in Plano, the approximately 13,000 square foot facility will support over 100 employees in multiple technical disciplines. The NSC serves as the technological "nerve center" of the Madison River operations and service support organization. It allows for 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week, monitoring of Madison River's advanced fiber optic platform, ATM backbone transport platform, Internet and enterprise data network elements, and product and service delivery components all the way to the customer site.

The NSC will monitor Madison River's ILEC and CLEC customers. Additionally, the center undertakes applications engineering to fit individual and specific customer requirements. The significant technical and management depth of all of the employees of the NSC and the advanced Network Management System platform, compatible with a broad range of network products, provides Madison River customers with a high-level of reliability in their communications network.

During the second quarter, the Company completed the conversion of its accounting system to the Lawson Insight II Business Management System. Paul H. Sunu, remarked "The choice of the Lawson system was a good fit for our Company. Lawson provides a flexible, robust platform with the capability to accommodate our growth as well as the tools to perform in-depth analysis of our financial data." In addition, the Company successfully completed the migration of Gulf Coast Services to its Lawson platform and anticipates integrating Coastal Communications to its Lawson platform by the end of the year.

On May 11, 2000, the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission in order to register $200.0 million in 13¼% senior notes due in 2010. The registration statement became effective on June 27, 2000. The publicly registered notes contain terms that are substantially identical to the notes that were sold in a private placement on February 17, 2000 except that the transfer restrictions, registration rights and liquidated damage provisions relating to the private placement notes do not apply to the publicly registered notes. The Company has initiated an exchange offer with note holders to exchange the publicly registered notes for the private placement notes. The exchange offer expires on July 27, 2000, unless extended.

Unaudited Selected Financial Results and Operating Data

Unaudited selected historical financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2000 and 1999 and unaudited selected historical and pro forma financial results for the six month period ended June 30, 2000 and 1999 were (dollars in millions):

	As Reported 2nd Quarter Ended		As Reported Six Months Ended		Pro Forma ** Six Months Ended
	June 30,	June 30,	June 30,	June 30,	June 30,	June 30,
	2000	1999	2000	1999	2000	1999
Net revenues	$41.7	16.7	$73.3	33.2	$82.4	83.6
LTD	41.1	16.7	72.3	33.2	81.4	83.6
ICD	0.6	-	1.0	-	1.0	-
Operating expenses	40.4	15.5	71.0	29.2	79.0	75.3
LTD	34.9	13.9	61.4	27.7	69.4	73.8
ICD	(4.0)	(1.5)	(7.3)	(1.5)	(6.7)	(1.2)
EBITDA margin	33.3%	36.8%	31.6%	39.6%	34.6%	35.4%
Cash and cashequivalents	79.2	11.3	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Net telephone plant
and equipment	362.4	88.8	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Total assets	981.7	283.4	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Long-term debt	672.0	219.5	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Member's capital	189.6	59.6	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Accumulated deficit	(44.2)	(8.0)	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Selected Operating Data:
Total lines sold:	201,791	94,960	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
LTD	195,639	94,960	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
ICD:
Access lines	3,208	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
PRI channels	2,944	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Total lines in service	199,951	94,960	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Voice access lines	197,464	94,960	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Voice PRI channels	207	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Data (DS-0)	28	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Data PRI channels	2,252	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Route miles:
Lit	2,351	433	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Dark	416	1,250	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Host Voice Switches owned	10	6	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
ATM Switches	6	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Network Operations Centers	2	-	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a
Employees	952	248	(a)	(a)	n/a	n/a

(a) Data is the same as that reported as of the end of the second quarter.

NOTE:

* The unaudited pro forma results for the three month period ended March 31, 2000 assume that the Coastal Communications acquisition in March 2000 and the senior notes offering in February 2000 each occurred as of January 1, 2000.

** The unaudited pro forma results for the six month period ended June 30, 2000 assume that the Coastal Communications acquisition in March 2000 and the senior notes offering in February 2000 each occurred as of January 1, 2000. The unaudited pro forma results for the six month period ended June 30, 1999 assume that the acquisitions of Gulf Coast Services in September 1999 and Coastal Communications in March 2000 and the senior notes offering in February 2000, each occurred as of January 1, 1999. In addition, the pro forma EBITDA results exclude non-cash charges for the Company's Long-Term Incentive Plan expenses. The pro forma information is not intended to be indicative of the actual results that would have been achieved had the transactions occurred at the beginning of 2000 or 1999, respectively, nor does it purport to be indicative of the future consolidated operating results of the Company.

The statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as ''may,'' ''will,'' ''expect,'' ''intend,'' ''estimate,'' ''anticipate,'' ''plan,'' ''seek'' or ''believe.'' We believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are accurate. However, we cannot assure you that such expectations will occur. Our actual future performance could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, the following:

· the uncertainties and potential delays associated with    integrating the operations of Gulf Coast Services and   Coastal Communications;

· the uncertainties and potential delays associated with our

   planned expansion into competitive local service;

· the passage of legislation or court decisions adversely   affecting the telecommunications industry;

· our ability to repay our outstanding indebtedness;

· competition in the telecommunications industry; and

· the advent of new technology.

For more information, see the "Risk Factors" section beginning on page 11 of our Registration Statement on Form S-4 (Registration No. 333-36804) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

You should not unduly rely on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, we are not obligated to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Madison River Capital, LLC operates as Madison River Communications and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Madison River Telephone Company, LLC. Madison River Communications operates and enhances rural telephone companies and uses advanced technology to provide competitive communications services in nearby markets. Madison River Telephone Company, LLC is owned by affiliates of Madison Dearborn Partners Inc., Goldman, Sachs & Co., Providence Equity Partners and members of management.