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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ErnestPoe who wrote (6654)	6/1/1999 9:56:00 AM
From: DR. MEADE	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108040

NPEC news out and its BIG ! *** Tuesday June 1, 9:30 am Eastern Time Company Press Release MetroPlus Announces Agreement for Internet Telephony With IPVoice.com LAKE ELSINORE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 1, 1999--MetroPlus Communications Technology, Inc., a division of NP Energy Corporation (OTC:BB:NPEC), is pleased to announce the signing of a Letter of Intent for exclusive marketing territories with IPVoice.com, Inc. 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 solutions for use in IP Telephony. IPVoice.com's premier product is an Internet Gateway called ''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 12 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 per cent 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 us get there,'' said Marketing Director Mark Jensen. ''We looked at 30 other products and chose IPVoice.com because they simply had the best product out there.'' IPVoice.com recently announced the implementation of the IPVoice.com gateway installations internationally, as well as their Flat25 Plan which offers unlimited long distance for $25 a month in 30 cities in the US and Canada. Within the coming months IPVoice.com will implement the installation of at least 30 gateways internationally. One gateway has opened in Hong Kong and London, Paris and Milan are not far behind. To support TrueConnect(TM), 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 in 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 with 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 away 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 businessperson 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 licenses with management and marketing tools that generate revenue. ''We are developing the marketing tools a licensee will need to be competitive,'' said Jensen. Signing the final agreement between MetroPlus and IPVoice.com will take place in June. On behalf of the Board of Directors Per: Ray Lazo, President ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Contact: MetroPlus, Lake Elsinore Investor Relations, 888/423-6993