U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, DC 20549 FORM 5 ANNUAL 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). [_] Form 3 Holdings Reported [_] Form 4 Transactions Reported ________________________________________________________________________________ 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 December 31, 2000 ________________________________________________________________________________ 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 ================================================================================

5. 6. 4. Amount of Owner- Securities Acquired (A) or Securities ship Disposed of (D) Beneficially Form: 7. (Instr. 3, 4 and 5) Owned at End Direct Nature of 2. 3. ----------------------------- of Issuer's (D) or Indirect 1. Transaction Transaction (A) Fiscal Year Indirect Beneficial Title of Security Date Code Amount or Price (Instr. 3 (I) Ownership (Instr. 3) (mm/dd/yy) (Instr. 8) (D) and 4) (Instr.4) (Instr. 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Common Stock 09/15/00 Q 2,500 D 4,852 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 5-07/99) FORM 5 (continued) Table II -- Derivative Securities Acquired, Disposed of, or Beneficially Owned (e.g., puts, calls, warrants, options, convertible securities) ================================================================================

9. 10. Number Owner- of ship 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- Securities Date Securities Price Bene- ity: In- cise 3. Acquired (A) Exercisable and (Instr. 3 and 4) of ficially Direct direct Price Trans- 4. or Disposed Expiration Date ---------------- Deriv- Owned (D) or Bene- 1. of action Trans- of (D) (Month/Day/Year) Amount ative at End In- ficial Title of Deriv- Date action (Instr. 3, ---------------- or Secur- of direct Owner- Derivative ative (Month/ Code 4 and 5) Date Expira- Number ity Year (I) ship Security Secur- Day/ (Instr. ------------ Exer- tion of (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. (Instr. 3) ity Year) 8) (A) (D) cisable Date Title Shares 5) 4) 4) 4) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~Non~~-~~Qualified Stock $5.87500 04/06/00 A 5,000 04/06/01 04/05/06 Common 5,000 5,000 D Option (right to Stock buy) (1)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~Non~~-~~Qualified Stock $5.87500 04/06/00 A 5,000 04/06/02 04/05/07 Common 5,000 5,000 D Option (right to Stock buy) (1)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~Non~~-~~Qualified Stock $5.87500 04/06/00 A 5,000 04/06/03 04/05/08 Common 5,000 5,000 D Option (right to Stock buy) (1)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ~~Non~~-~~Qualified Stock $5.87500 04/06/00 A 5,000 04/06/04 04/05/09 Common 5,000 5,000 D Option (right to Stock buy) (1)~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ====================================================================================================================================

Explanation of Responses: /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 EDGARLink 7.0 (8/00) Ver. 3.1

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