Idacomm sells Las Vegas private dark fiber rings to Mpower

June 16, 2005 Las Vegas, NV -- Idacomm, the facilities-based communications subsidiary of Idacorp, today announced the sale of three fully redundant dark fiber rings in Las Vegas to Mpower Communications. The 141 miles of existing fiber are concentrated in the densely populated business areas of the greater Las Vegas valley. Consisting of three distinct dark fiber rings, the network connects the majority of the city's central offices, providing a platform for enhanced carrier products including metro Ethernet, SONET, and additional dark fiber networks.

"Idacomm is fully engaged in developing state-of-the-art networks to meet the fast growing broadband needs of the Las Vegas valley, and competitive telecom companies including Mpower," remarks Chris Britton, president and CEO of Idacomm. "Since our acquisition of Sierra Pacific Communications in July 2004, we have continued to expand our extensive dark fiber reserves to support our emerging carrier business."

Idacomm says the sale of the dark fiber rings in Las Vegas supports the company's strategy of expanding fiber networks to serve carrier customers, while providing a foundation for a diverse line of business products including lit, dim, and dark fiber services, converged voice and data, high-speed Internet access, and hosted voice over IP services designed especially for small- and medium-sized businesses.

"This Las Vegas fiber backbone complements our California fiber network, and will give us substantial fiber assets in our largest markets," concludes Rolla P. Huff, Mpower's chairman and CEO.