Contract to Provide the Military Base With Long-Haul Network
      Services Through Access to Windstream's National Fiber
                              Network

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 1, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Windstream
(Nasdaq:WIN), a leading provider of advanced network communications,
announced today that it has been awarded a contract by the Defense
Information System Agency (DISA) to provide Fort Lee with diverse fiber
and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) services.

Located in Prince George County, Va., south of Richmond, Fort Lee has
experienced a massive increase in the volume of personnel it houses, as
other U.S. Army bases have closed as part of the Base Realignment and
Closure program (BRAC)--a federal program that decreased the number of
bases and camps maintained by the Department of Defense.

This large population growth has increased Fort Lee's need for stronger
and more reliable communication networks. Windstream is fulfilling this
need by constructing two diverse fiber paths into the facilities and
tying those paths together to create a robust fiber ring that is
connected back to Windstream's national fiber network. The company also
installed redundant DWDM network services connecting Fort Lee's
backbone network to long-haul routes ensuring that data redundancy is
achieved. This solution was designed to ensure that the networks at
Fort Lee will be online and reliable for the thousands of personnel
that depend on the data services on a daily basis.

"Through this project, Fort Lee has secured its data and made sure that
it is readily accessible at a moment's notice," said Mike Magliato,
Windstream vice president of government solutions. "Military facilities
must have guaranteed uptime, so it was our mission to go in and provide
diversity and redundancy in the fiber build."

Since 2005, Windstream and its subsidiaries have been serving
governmental entities, such as the Department of Defense and DISA, FAA,
Department of Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, U.S. Army, Air
Force and Navy, U.S. Courts, and the Department of Homeland Security.
In 2010, Windstream announced the activation of the 500th high capacity
circuit delivered to the United States Department of Defense (DoD).
Circuit speeds for the DoD range from DS-3 to 10 Gbps.

"Within the past year, our fiber network and available services have
grown immensely as a result of strategic acquisitions and capital
investment," said Bill Bellando, Windstream senior vice president of
Network Services. "It is our mission to continue these improvements to
our infrastructure so other military facilities similar to Fort Lee
will be able to provide personnel with high-quality, secure, and
dependable broadband services."

Fort Lee is home to some of the military's most decorated units,
training schools, and museums. These include the U.S. Army Combined
Arms Support Command (CASCOM)/ Sustainment Center of Excellence (SCoE),
the U.S. Army Quartermaster School, the U.S. Army Ordnance School, the
U.S. Army Transportation School, the Army Logistics University (ALU),
and the U.S. Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA).

About Windstream

Windstream Corp. (Nasdaq:WIN) is a leading provider of advanced network
communications, including cloud computing and managed services, to
businesses nationwide. The company also offers broadband, phone and
digital TV services to consumers primarily in rural areas. Windstream
has more than $6 billion in annual revenues and is listed on the S&P
500 index. For more information, visit www.windstream.com.


CONTACT: Windstream Contact:
         Alice Hartnett
         704-887-0327
         alice.hartnett@windstream.com