October 2, 2000

Contact:
David Morris, (907) 265-5396 or dmorris@gci.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GCI SECURES $12 MILLION TELE-HEALTH CONTRACT BENEFITTING RURAL ALASKANS

Nome, AK - - General Communication, Inc. (GCI) announced today that it has signed an agreement with Norton Sound Health Corporation to provide tele-health services between 15 communities in the Bering Strait region and health care providers located in Nome and Anchorage. The five-year, $12 million contract will provide state-of-the-art broadband services delivered via satellite and represents a significant advancement in the quality of rural health care.

"People living in rural America should have the same access to quality health care and resources as those living in urban America," said Martin Cary, GCI vice president of broadband services. "Tele-health services will raise the quality and speed of health care in remote areas, and reduce overall costs associated with Medivacs and delayed treatments."

According to Cary, GCI's tele-health services provide more than bandwidth capacity. GCI's approach offers full network management, application development, consulting and training delivered by a team exclusively focused on tele-health services in remote areas. Overall, this partnership approach offers the best support and long-term viability for a rural health program.

Village health aides will be able to send detailed diagnostic information to major hospitals located in Nome and Anchorage as well as other participating specialists. A typical village clinic will have an electrocardiogram, otoscope for ear, nose and throat analysis, dermascope for skin analysis, a videoscope for overall assessment and real time support during an emergency.

"This contract demonstrates the growing demand for managed broadband services in rural Alaska," said Ron Duncan, GCI president and CEO. "Broadband services, data and private line revenues are a rapidly increasing proportion of GCI's total revenues."

To date, GCI has secured similar tele-health contracts with various Native health corporations serving the Kotzebue, Bethel, Bristol Bay, Aleutian and Ketchikan regions.

GCI (Nasdaq:GNCMA) is an Alaska-based integrated communications provider delivering voice, video and data services through its fiber optic, satellite, hybrid fiber coax and metropolitan area network facilities. More information about GCI can be found at www.gci.com.