NP Energy Corporation NEWS RELEASE
Trading -OTC Bulletin
Board
Symbol-NPEC
Cusip#629362-20-03
Lake Elsinore, California - June 1, 1999
METROPLUS ANNOUNCES AN AGREEMENT FOR INTERNET TELEPHONY WITH
IPVOICE.COM, INC.
MetroPlus Communications Technology, Inc., a division of NP Energy
Corporation, is pleased to announce the signing of a Letter of Intent
for exclusive marketing territories with IPVoice.com, Inc. (OTC:BB:IPVC)
MetroPlus, based in Vancouver, BC, is building its own marketing and
licensing system for phone-to-phone Internet Telephony. Internet
Telephony uses the Internet to send audio between two telephones in real
time. IPVoice.com is a developer and producer of unique proprietary
state of the art software and hardware solution for use in IP Telephony.
IPVoice.com's premier product is an Internet Gateway named
''TrueConnect(TM)'', a fully Y2K compliant gateway that allows users to
conduct real time full duplex, high quality two-way voice communication
over the Internet.
MetroPlus would agree to be a TruePartner Master Distributor, a license
program for operating Internet gateways through IPVoice.com. MetroPlus
is granted exclusive territories in Canada, Washington and Oregon.
There are 16 primary cities involved in the agreement. MetroPlus will
have active gateways in the next twelve months in Canada in Vancouver,
Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. In
Washington State, MetroPlus will operate gateways in Seattle, Tacoma,
Spokane, the Tri Cities and Vancouver. In Oregon, the company will be
in Albany, Beaverton, Eugene and Portland.
As a requirement of the TruePartner Master Distributor agreement, each
gateway must produce at least $US 250,000 in revenue per month. The
cost to license the gateways in the exclusive territories will be
approximately $US 1 million.
MetroPlus is very excited about the possibility of expanding into the
burgeoning field of Internet Telephony. "Internet telephony is expected
to account for at least six percent of all phone traffic and reach
revenues of $24 billion in the next three years. We want to be a part
of that market and IPVoice.com can certainly help get us there," said
Marketing Director Mark Jensen.
IPVoice.com. recently announced the implementation of the IPVoice.com
gateway installations internationally as well as a network covering 30
cities in the U.S. and Canada. Within the coming months IPVoice.com.
will implement the installation of at least 30 gateways internationally.
Gateways are opening soon in Hong Kong, London, Paris and Milan. To
support TrueConnect, IPVoice.com. has developed proprietary support
products in the areas of order entry, billing, customer service, agent
management and a switching network management system.
Internet Telephony systems are point-to-point. As the network of
gateways grows, the entire network becomes more valuable. Each gateway
can originate and terminate minutes with other partners in the network.
MetroPlus has developed unique marketing techniques to help it compete
within its marketing territories.
"We saw a perfect match with IPVoice because they are so proficient with
technology and our strength is marketing and sales," said Jensen.
MetroPlus is building a consumer assessment tool to determine the exact
degree of technology a customer has integrated into their life. By
determining how "wired" a customer is, MetroPlus can determine the right
product to sell the customer. "Consumers are being bombarded by too
many telecommunications products. We want to cut through the noise and
offer programs that are simple and cost effective for our customers. We
want people to embrace our technology not run from it," Jensen said.
MetroPlus plans to compete in its marketing territories by selling
operating licenses to people and businesses in the local area. It feels
the local business person will have better knowledge of the marketing
environment. "We want to build long term relationships with customers.
We will not be another long distance company flogging the cheapest
minute," said Jensen. MetroPlus plans to support its licensees with
management and marketing tools that generate revenue. We are developing
the marketing tools a licensee will need to be competitive," said
Jensen.
Signing of the final agreement between MetroPlus and IPVoice.com will
take place in June.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Per: Ray Lazo, President
For further information, contact Investor Relations at 1-888-423-6993.
I will be working all weekend long if you would like to contact me .
David J DiRicco |
