MPOW - Mpower Holding Corporation (MPOW)

[jmhollen]

Mpower Achieves Fully Funded Status as Sale of Markets Closes

ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Mpower Holding Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: MPOW), the parent company of Mpower Communications Corp., a provider of broadband high-speed Internet access and telephone services to business customers, today announced that it has completed the sale of its Florida and Georgia markets to Florida Digital Network. This close completes the last of the transactions the company announced on January 8, 2003 and is the final step in creating the new Mpower, a company operating in Los Angeles, San Diego, Northern California, Las Vegas and Chicago with an annual revenue run rate of approximately $150 million.

With the closing of this transaction, Mpower's unrestricted cash balance as of April 8, 2003 is $16.5 million. Mpower also expects to receive additional payments, most of which are currently in escrow, from the three strategic transactions totaling $8-9 million over the next 180 days.

"Over the past two years Mpower has completed a financial and operational restructuring that has eliminated all of our long-term debt and significantly reduced our cash burn rate," stated Mpower Communications Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rolla P. Huff. "In addition to eliminating all of our long- term debt, we have reshaped our company to provide geographic concentration and a substantially more efficient cost structure. We now expect to reach EBITDA(1) positive results during the third quarter, and expect our EBITDA to exceed our capital expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2003."

"Unlike many other telecom companies today, fully funding our business plan is no longer our main concern. We have now cleared that hurdle and are forging ahead with no long-term debt and what we believe is sufficient cash to meet our operational needs," added Huff. "Mpower is now prepared to turn the page on restructuring and begin to focus on growing EBITDA and creating value for our shareholders. We are considering a variety of such opportunities, including implementing in-market acquisitions and/or business combinations in order to achieve additional scale in our current markets and accelerating our investments in organic growth. However, we do not anticipate these alternatives would impact our company's fully funded status."

About Mpower Holding Corporation

Mpower Holding Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: MPOW) is the parent company of Mpower Communications, a competitive communications provider offering a full range of data, telephony, Internet access and Web hosting services for small and medium-size business customers. Mpower Communications provides facilities-based telecommunications services to approximately 70,000 customers in the Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Northern California and Chicago areas. Further information about the company can be found at www.mpowercom.com.

SOURCE Mpower Holding Corporation

/CONTACT: Investor Relations - Gregg Clevenger, Chief Financial Officer
of Mpower Holding Corporation, [phone], [e-mail],
or Media - Michele Sadwick, Vice President of Mpower Holding Corporation,
[phone], [e-mail]/

/Web site: http://www.mpowercom.com