U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 4 STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP Filed pursuant to Section 16(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Section 17(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 or Section 30(f) of the Investment Company Act of 1940 [_] Check box if no longer subject to Section 16. Form 4 or Form 5 obligations may continue. See Instruction 1(b). ________________________________________________________________________________ 1. Name and Address of Reporting Person* Sparks, Bradley E. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Last) (First) (Middle) 12975 Worldgate Drive -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Street) Herndon, VA 20170 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (City) (State) (Zip) ________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Issuer Name and Ticker or Trading Symbol e.spire Communications, Inc. (ESPI) ________________________________________________________________________________ 3. IRS Identification Number of Reporting Person, if an Entity (Voluntary) ________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Statement for Month/Year January 2001 ________________________________________________________________________________ 5. If Amendment, Date of Original (Month/Year) ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Relationship of Reporting Person to Issuer (Check all applicable) [_] Director [_] 10% Owner [X] Officer (give title below) [_] Other (specify below) CFO ________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Individual or Joint/Group Filing (Check applicable line) [X] Form filed by one Reporting Person [_] Form filed by more than one Reporting Person ________________________________________________________________________________ ================================================================================ Table I -- Non-Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned ================================================================================

6. 4. 5. Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Amount of ship 3. Disposed of (D) Securities Form: 7. Transaction (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Beneficially Direct Nature of 2. Code ------------------------------- Owned at End (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction (Instr. 8) (A) of Month Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date ------------ Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) Code V (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~Common Stock (1) 01/02/01 J 25,000 A 42,381 D~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock (1) 01/02/01 (2) A 100,000 (3) A 107,352 D ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

* If the Form is filed by more than one Reporting Person, see Instruction 4(b)(v). Reminder: Report on a separate line for each class of securities beneficially owned directly or indirectly. (Print or Type Responses) (Over) (Form 4-07/99) FORM 4 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================

10. 9. Owner- Number ship of Form 2. Deriv- of Conver- 5. 7. ative Deriv- 11. sion Number of Title and Amount Secur- ative Nature or Derivative 6. of Underlying 8. ities Secur- of Exer- 4. Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In- cise 3. Trans- Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct Price Trans- action or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene- 1. of action Code of(D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial Title of Deriv- Date (Instr. (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner- Derivative ative (Month/ 8) 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Month (I) ship Security Secur- Day/ ------ ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity Year) Code V (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Incentive Stock Option (right to Common buy) (4) $0.68800 01/02/01 A 337,~~750~~500 01/02/02 01/01/07 ~~Common~~Stock 337,~~750~~500 337,~~750~~500 D ~~Option (right to Stock buy) (2)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Incentive Stock Option (right to Common buy) (4) $0.68800 01/02/01 A 337,~~750~~500 01/02/03 01/01/08 ~~Common~~Stock 337,~~750~~500 337,~~750~~500 D ~~Option (right to Stock buy) (2)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Incentive Stock Option (right to Common buy) (4) $0.68800 01/02/01 A 337,~~750~~500 01/02/04 01/0201/09 ~~Common~~Stock 337,~~750~~500 337,~~750~~500 D ~~Option (right to Stock buy) (2)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Incentive Stock Option (right to Common buy) (4) $0.68800 01/02/01 A 337,~~750~~500 01/02/05 01/01/10 ~~Common~~Stock 337,~~750~~500 337,~~750~~500 D ~~Option (right to Stock buy) (2)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

Explanation of Responses: See continuation page(s) for footnotes. /s/Bradley E. Sparks 2/27/01 --------------------------------------------- ----------------------- **Signature of Reporting Person Date ** Intentional misstatements or omissions of facts constitute Federal Criminal Violations. See 18 U.S.C. 1001 and 15 U.S.C. 78ff(a). Note: File three copies of this Form, one of which must be manually signed. If space provided is insufficient, see Instruction 6 for procedure. Page 2 [FN] (1) Granted pursuant to e.spire's 1998 Restricted Stock Plan. The stock vests 25% on January 2, 2002 and 25% on each anniversary of January 2. Unvested stock is subject to forfeiture under certain circumstances. (2) Stock purchased though the Company's 1996 Employee Stock Purchase Plan is included in the balance indicated. (3) Balance includes 100,000 shares granted pursuant e.spire's 1998 Restricted Stock Plan. The stock vests 25% on January 2, 2002 and 25% on each anniversary of January 2. Unvested stock is subject to forfeiture under certain circumtances. (4) Granted under the Company's Amended 1994 Stock Option Plan and qualified under Rule 16b-3. EDGARLink 7.0 (8/00) Ver. 3.1

Filing Compare · E SPIRE COMMUNICATIONS INC