Press Release: July 20, 2000

WR Hambrecht + Co Raises Price Target For Next Level Communications (NXTV) To $150, Reiterates Strong Buy Rating

Expansion and Q2 earnings lead the way toward target increase

San Francisco, CA, July 20, 2000—WR Hambrecht + Co today raised its price target for Next Level Communications (NXTV) to $150 from $125 and reiterated the Strong Buy rating on the provider of integrated broadband access platforms. eNetwork Infrastructure analyst Tim Savageaux cited strong Q2 earnings in which Next Level delivered $40.2 million in revenues; improved gross margins; and international opportunities with France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Deutche Telekom, Telefonica (Spain) and TeleNor (Norway) as key reasons for the increase. WR Hambrecht + Co offers all its research reports at www.wrhambrecht.com.

“We continue to view Next Level as the market leader by a wide margin in pioneering the market for integrated broadband access platforms capable of delivering voice, video and data services over a cell/packet based infrastructure. We believe this leadership position in a potentially massive global market for next generation telecom access solutions warrants a premium valuation,” Savageaux said.

Next Level Communications, Inc. designs and markets broadband communications equipment that enables telephone companies and other communications service providers to cost-effectively deliver a full suite of voice, data and video services over the existing copper telephone wire infrastructure.