1. What the New FCC (and other regulators) Can Do To “ Get it Right” MARC - Traverse City, MI Jeff Gardner - President and CEO June 16, 2009

2. 2 Windstream is... ►Access Lines: 3M ►Long-distance customers: 2M ►High-speed Internet customers: 1M ►Digital TV (via DISH) customers: 295K ►Since 2002, WIN has lost roughly 25% of its voice customers (and WIN leads the industry with the lowest rate of access line erosion!) ►Less than $2.50 per line monthly Business Overview As of March 31, 2009 Rural Markets Geographically Diverse Serving 16 States Not heavily reliant on FUSF A heavily regulated ILEC competing against lightly regulated communications and entertainment providers; rural focused.

3. 3 Serving rural consumers... Notes: (1) Windstream access lines excludes CATV and CLEC lines Source: Public filings and investor presentations (1) Competitive Environment Low Density ~60% of lines have cable voice competition ~75-80% of lines have broadband competition 100% of lines have wireless competition Access Lines per Square Mile Following the upcoming CTL/EQ and FTR/VZ transactions, WIN will have the fewest access lines per square mile of mid-size group

4. 4 Video Penetration of Total Access Lines Our business objectives are aligned with policymakers’ objectives... Source: Public filings and Analyst Reports Data as of 3/31/09 HSI Penetration of Total Access Lines Year-over-Year Change in Access Lines Internet speed availability (% of addressable lines)

5. 5 But regulation and market realities are in conflict... ►Then: Monopoly era social compact -- exclusivity benefit vs. COLR burden; reliance on implicit subsidies. ►Now: Fierce competition for higher profit customers between multiple facilities-based providers using various technologies. Inadequate support in high-cost areas for mid-sized ILECs. ►Current regulatory regime is not sustainable. Reform urgently needed to reflect modern market realities, such as: ►“Technology neutral” regulatory parity ►Sufficient, sustainable, and explicit universal service/inter-carrier compensation 3