1 Equity Free Cash Flow defined as Net Income Depreciatio

1

Kevin Beebe Group President, Operations

• Lehman Brothers
• 2004 Global Wireless Conference
• New York, NY
• May 24, 2004

2
Safe Harbor Statement

• This presentation includes certain estimates and
  other forward-looking statements, including
  statements with respect to anticipated operating
  and financial performance, growth opportunities
  and growth rates, acquisition and divestiture
  opportunities, and other statements of
  expectation. Words such as expects,
  anticipates, intends, plans, believes,
  assumes, seeks, estimates, and should,
  and variations of these words and similar
  expressions, are intended to identify these
  forward-looking statements. Forward-looking
  statements are subject to uncertainties that
  could cause actual future performance, outcomes
  and results to differ materially. These
  statements by the Company and its management are
  based on estimates, projections, beliefs and
  assumptions of management and are not guarantees
  of future performance. The company disclaims any
  obligation to update or revise any
  forward-looking statement based on the occurrence
  of future events, the receipt of new information,
  or otherwise.

3
Regulation G Disclaimer

• Todays presentation will include certain
  non-GAAP financial measures. I refer you to the
  Investor Relations section of ALLTELs Web site
  where the company has posted additional
  information regarding these non-GAAP financial
  measures, including a reconciliation of each such
  measure to the most directly comparable GAAP
  measure. The companys Web site is located at
  www.alltel.com.

4
Agenda

• Industry Perspective
• Strategic Model
• Track Record of Financial Performance
• Track Record of Shareholder Returns
• Wireless Business 1Q 04 Results
• Wireline Business 1Q 04 Results
• Summary Why Invest in ALLTEL

5
Industry PerspectiveWireless and Broadband are
the Growth Drivers in Telecom
Customer Lines (M)
Sources FCC, CTIA, NCTA, Telecomweb, UBS,
Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch.
6
Strategic Model Access is KeyPositions ALLTEL
for Telecom Industry Evolution and Shareholder
Value

• OPERATIONAL FOCUS
• Point of Sale Experience
• Customer Service Experience
• Network Quality Experience

• FINANCIAL DISCIPLINE
• Invest in Businesses Not Products
• Best Customer/Best Price
• Stay Relevant

• OPPORTUNISTIC GROWTH
• Focus on Free Cash Flow
• Operational Fit
• Think Long-Term (5 years)

7
Strategic ModelDisciplined Approach to
Transactions to Better Position the Business

• 1998 360 Communications - 6.1B
• Added 2.6M wireless customers
• 1999 Aliant Communications and Liberty Cellular
  - 2.4B
• Added 300K access lines and 440K wireless
  customers
• 2000 Verizon Property Swap and Roaming Deal -
  600M
• Added 700K net wireless customers
• 2002 Verizon Kentucky Wireline - 1.9B
• Added 600K access lines
• 2002 CenturyTel Wireless Business - 1.6B
• Added 700K wireless customers
• 2003 Sale of Information Services business to
  Fidelity National - 1.05B

Transaction Strategy Has Improved the Business Mix
8
Strong Balance SheetALLTEL Has One of the
Strongest Credit Profiles in the Telecom Industry

• Well capitalized balance sheet
• A1 / Prime-1 / F1 Commercial Paper ratings
• A / A2 / A long-term credit ratings
• Net Debt / OIBDA 1.3X(1)
• Net Debt / Total Cap 34

Source Wall Street equity research and company
filings. Note Assumes 80 equity credit for AT,
CZN and CTL Equity Units SP / Moodys / Fitch,
respectively. (1) From current businesses as of
1Q04 OIBDA defined as operating income before
depreciation and amortization.
9
Track Record of Results Strategic Model Driving
Consistent Growth
Operating Income Before Depreciation and
Amortization (bn)1
Revenue (bn)1
CAGR 8.6
CAGR 9.3
Dividends per Share
Earnings per Share1
CAGR 3.4
CAGR 7.0
1 From Current Businesses
10
Track Record of Results Strategic Model Driving
Strong and Growing Equity Free Cash Flow
Over 1B in Equity Free Cash Flow in 2003
Millions
of Revenues

CAGR 17.6
1
1 Equity Free Cash Flow defined as Net Income
Depreciation Amortization - Capital
Expenditures Note From Current Businesses
11
Track Record of Results Strategic Model
Generating Leading Total Returns(1)
Rank
5 Year
3 Year
1 Year
1 3 5 4 2
1 4 5 3 2
3 2 5 1 4
ALLTEL BellSouth SBC Sprint Verizon
Note (1) Total return based on stock price
appreciation and dividends Source FactSet
database
12
Track Record of Results Disciplined Approach to
Return of Capital

• Quarterly dividends have been raised for 43
  consecutive years
• 3 yield
• Recently announced 750M share buyback program
• 5 of shares outstanding
• Authorizes repurchase over period ending 12/31/05
• As of March 31, 2004
• Repurchased 4.8M shares 243M
• Completed 1/3 of the Repurchase Plan

13
Increased the Mix to 59 WirelessAn Integrated
Telecom Company With the Highest Wireless
Contribution
2003 ALLTEL
Integrated Telecom Companies
2003 Wireless Rev as of Total Rev
(1) 58 48 36 33 32
1Q 04 Wireless Rev as of Total Rev
(1) 59 51 39 36 32
Revenue
OIBDA
Company Name ALLTEL Sprint BellSouth(2) Ve
rizon SBC(2)
2003 OIBDA 3.2B
2003 Revenue 8.0B
Business is well positioned for growth and free
cash flow
(1) Source Analyst and company reports (2)
Includes prorata share of AWE 2003 revenue
assuming no divestitures.
14
Wireless BusinessA Closer Look at the Business
and 1Q 04 Highlights

• As of 3/31/04
• 61 million POPs
• 8.2 million customers
• Customer Mix
• Tier 1 - 36
• Tier 2 - 34
• Tier 3 - 30

• 1Q 04 Highlights
• 1Q 04 YOY
• Service revenue 1.12B 7
• Retail service rev. 1.03B 8
• ARPU 45.96 1
• RRPU 42.56 2
• Gross adds 737K 12
• Post-pay churn 1.93 (11)
• Net Adds 158K 226

Wireless
15
Wireless BusinessNational Plans and MOU Growth
Driving RRPU
of Gross Adds on Total/National Freedom Rate
Plans
Strong National plan sales and MOU growth driving
RRPU
16
Wireless BusinessData Usage Continues to Grow

• Data Revenue Being Driven By
• Application Downloads
• Ringtones
• Text Messaging

Wireless Data Revenue as of ARPU
163 Increase YOY

• 2004 Plans
• Further expand 1X data footprint
• Launch EV-DO in several markets by year-end

17
Wireless BusinessQuantity and Quality of Gross
Adds are Improving
Gross Adds Quarter Over Quarter in thousands
Best Gross Add quarter in company history
On a relative basis ALLTEL is capturing its fair
share of gross adds
12 Increase YOY
1Q04 Gross Adds Per 1K Pops (1)
Post Pay as Percentage of Total Gross
13 Increase YOY
The quantity and quality of gross adds continue
to improve
(1) Source Analyst and company reports
18
Wireless BusinessRecord Gross Adds and Improving
Churn Driving Customer Growth
Net Adds
Gross Adds Quarter Over Quarter in thousands
226 Increase
12 Increase YOY
Post Pay / Total Churn
26 bp Decline

• Improving service levels
• Competitive pricing plans
• Proactive retention efforts

23 bp Decline
Record Gross Adds and Improving Churn Driving
Customer Growth
19
Wireless BusinessIndustry Leading Cost Structure
Cash Costs per Customer

• OIBDA Margins1
• Gross Adds up 12 yoy putting pressure on margins
• Increased retention spending also putting
  pressure on margins, but significantly improving
  post pay churn
• 29 MOU growth yoy

Quality customer growth and retention putting
near-term pressure on margins, but we are still
industry leaders in cash costs per customer
Excludes acquisition costsSource Analyst and
company reports
1OIBDA defined as operating income before
depreciation and amortization (measured on
service revenues).
20
2003 Comparison to Wireless PeersRevenue and
Income Metrics Per Customer
Monthly Op. Income Per Customer 6 9 4 1 16
11
Penetration of covered PoPs 16.7 13.6 8.3 5.9
6.5 13.3
Customers (In Millions)(3) 46.0 37.5 17.5 13.1 12.
9 8.0
Market Share (3) 30 24 11 8 8 5
ARPU (Service Rev) 54 49 61 53 69 48
CCPU (Exc Acq Costs) 28 21 31 26 26 21
Acq Cost Per Customer 10 9 12 16 14 9
Depr/Amor Per Customer 10 10 14 10 13 8

• Cingular/AWE(1)
• Verizon
• Sprint(2)
• T-Mobile
• Nextel
• ALLTEL

SCALE IS LOCAL
Source Analyst and company reports 1 Estimates
for Cingular/AWE assuming no divestitures 2
Excludes affiliates 3 Customers as of 12/31/03
Note Expense categories exclude one-time
charges.
21
Wireless Business ALLTEL Launched Touch2Talk A
Very Competitive Push-to-Talk Offering

• Launched in two stages
• Half of our markets in late January
• Half of our markets in late March
• Added over 50,000 customers in 1Q 04
• Most were existing customers
• Most purchased 20 unlimited plan

Pricing 5/month 100 minutes private
T2T 10/month 500 minutes private T2T 20/month
unlimited minutes private T2T

• Benefits/Initial Customer Reaction
• Broad Coverage (Available on IS-95 Digital
  Network)
• Minimal Latency
• Call setup in 2 to 3 seconds
• Intra-call in as low as 150 milliseconds
• Robust Functionality
• Use handset to set up group and add users to
  group
• Easily toggle between T2T call and wireless call

22
Wireline BusinessA Closer Look at the Business
and 1Q 04 Highlights

• As of 3/31/03
• Approximately 3.1 million customer lines
• Approximately 50 of wireline access lines
  overlap wireless service areas

• 1Q 04 Highlights
• 1Q 04 YOY
• ARPU 64.62 1
• Segment income 228M 2
• DSL net adds 21K 22

Wireless Wireline National Calling Areas Cover
All 50 States
23
Wireline BusinessAccess Lines Decline Slightly,
But ARPU Increases
Access Lines
DSL Customers
2 Decline YOY
99 Increase YOY

• 9 penetration of addressable lines
• Almost 90 have ALLTEL Internet Service
• Almost 70 of ILEC lines DSL capable

• Primary reasons for decline
• Wireless substitution
• Broadband

24
2003 Comparison to Wireline PeersRevenue and
Income Metrics Per Customer
Monthly Op. Income Per Customer
ARPU
CCPU
Customers (In Millions)
Verizon 56.8 58 34 11 SBC 55.9 54 37 6 BellS
outh 21.7 71 38 19 Qwest 16.6 68 39 18 Sprin
t 8.0 64 34 19 ALLTEL 3.1 65 27 23 CenturyTe
l 2.4 72 32 24
SCALE IS LOCAL
Source Analyst and company reports
25
Summary - Why Invest in ALLTEL?

• Integrated telecom with highest relative
  contribution from wireless in the industry
• Solid balance sheet
• Strong equity free cash flow
• Over 1B in 2003 25 increase yoy
• 328M in 1Q 04 13 increase yoy
• 3 dividend yield, 750M share repurchase plan
  ongoing (1/3 completed)
• Wireless Business improving quality/ quantity
  of customer growth, significantly improving
  retention, and industry leading cash cost per
  user
• Wireline Business higher DSL penetration,
  growing feature revenues, and industry leading
  cash cost per user

26
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, 2001,
2000 and 1999
27
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the years ended December 31, 2003, 2002, 2001,
2000 and 1999
28
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003
29
Reconciliation of Non-GAAP Financial Measures for
the three months ended March 31, 2004 and 2003
30
Other Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial
Measures
31