Eau Claire, WI - October 8, 2003 - Wisconsin Independent Network™, LLC, (WIN™) announced today its participation as a charter member in a new trade association called Independent Alliances Telecom Group (INDATELgroup). INDATELgroup is a non-profit telecommunications trade association whose members are Independent Telco-owned statewide network alliances that provide broadband access into underserved rural areas - and metropolitan areas - via fiber optic SONET networks.

"We had a very exciting roll-out of our new trade association at the Fall 2003 CompTel Trade Show," said Scott Hoffmann, Executive Director of WIN, and Vice President of INDATELgroup. "What started a few years back as a conversation amongst peers in the industry has evolved into something that holds great potential for member companies such as WIN. INDATELgroup has an initial charter membership of seventeen statewide network alliances - with the potential for many more states to join in the future."

The initial focus of INDATELgroup is two-fold:

         1) Joint national marketing and advertising of the individual member networks

         2) Networking and sharing

"The initial marketing focus will center on our website: http://indatelgroup.org ," said Hoffmann. "Once at the website, customers will have the option to select a state in which they are interested in doing business. The customer will be linked directly through to the website of the member company operating within that state. We feel this will be a valuable tool for network buyers - primarily carriers and wireless companies - to obtain contacts to fiber network providers who have very unique network footprints within their respective states."

INDATEL group will be exhibiting at the February 2004 CompTel trade show.