MIAMI, Aug 17, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- MasTec, Inc. (NYSE: MTZ) today announced that it has engaged a specialty recruiting firm to fill the vacancies on its Board of Directors resulting from the resignations of Arthur B. Laffer, William N. Shiebler and Joseph P. Kennedy II. Dr. Laffer and Mr. Kennedy were Class III directors, whose terms were expiring with the upcoming annual meeting. Mr. Shiebler was a Class II director whose term was to expire at the annual meeting in 2006.

Mr. Kennedy resigned for personal reasons. Dr. Laffer resigned because the Chairman and Board did not call a meeting to consider his proposals to require an outside Chairman and remove one of the current directors. Mr. Shiebler resigned over similar issues involving his proposals to restructure the Board.

Under the Company's corporate by-laws, the Chairman, the President, or any two directors may call for a special meeting of the Board. No meeting was called to discuss these issues and therefore, no vote was taken by the Board on the Laffer or Schiebler proposals before these resignations.

Jorge Mas, MasTec's Chairman stated, "We have always strived to be a model of corporate governance at MasTec. In fact, we had a majority of outside directors long before it became mandatory. However, in recent weeks I became concerned that the composition of the Board was not optimal in serving the interests of the Company or its investors. It became clear to me that we needed change in order to focus on operational and strategic issues of great importance and opportunity for the Company."

Mr. Mas concluded, "I am confident that the current Board, and the highly qualified directors that we expect to name soon, will assist in guiding the Company to a better and more profitable future."

MasTec (http://www.mastec.com) is a leading communications, broadband, intelligent traffic and energy infrastructure service provider. The Company designs, builds, installs, maintains, upgrades and monitors internal and external networks for leading companies and government entities.

This press release and any accompanying documents contain forward-looking statements, such as statements regarding MasTec's future growth and profitability, growth strategy, and anticipated trends in the industries and economies in which MasTec operates. The words "anticipate," "estimate," "should," "expect," "believe," "intend," "target," "project" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on MasTec's current expectations and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, including that our revenue and profits may differ from that projected, that we may be further impacted by slowdowns in our clients' businesses or in the economy in general, that our reserves for receivables may be inadequate and that we may experience increased costs associated with realigning our business or may be unsuccessful in those efforts. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from results expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by MasTec in this press release. These and other risks are detailed in this press release and/or documents filed by MasTec with the Securities and Exchange Commission. MasTec does not undertake any obligation to revise these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

SOURCE MasTec, Inc.

J. Marc Lewis, Vice President-Investor Relations, MasTec, Inc.,
+1-305-406-1815, or fax, +1-305-406-1886, or marc.lewis@mastec.com

http://www.mastec.com