Interlink Global Corp., announced that it has executed and begun the implementation of a Memorandum of Understanding with Metrocel, S.A., located in Quito, Ecuador to provide retail broadband and VOIP services throughout the country. The forthcoming contract will be a joint venture between Metrocel and Interlink developing a project to provide broadband and VoIP telephony services to 600 Internet kiosks located around the country. Each kiosk will house 5 telephone lines, and will offer consumers in Ecuador the ability to access broadband and telephone services. The rates that will be charged will be below the rates charged for broadband service, if those services are available at all in certain areas of the country, as well as being far below traditional fixed line and wireless rates charged by the incumbent telephone companies.
Metrocel and Interlink will share revenues on a 50-50 basis after Interlink recovers all infrastructure costs. The company anticipates that the services will begin to be available in the country in early 2006, with full rollout across the country completed by early 2007. The joint venture, when implementation of the entire project is complete, anticipates recognizing gross annual revenues of $600,000, with net income per year reaching $300,000. Each kiosk will use proprietary technology, including the softphone, specifically designed for these projects by Interlink. A similar service is being currently rolled out in the United States through Interlink's joint venture with Blue Wireless & Data, of Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas, which is beginning service this week.
In describing the Metrocel joint venture, Mr. Severino Rivano, Vice President of Interlink, stated: "This contract represents a further extension of our business model of providing VOIP services to the international market to include the consumer market. While not desiring to incur the substantial overhead and operating losses associated with marketing directly to consumers domestically and internationally, we have decided that we can provide the infrastructure, equipment and expertise to providers of such retail VOIP services to the public. Since the providers handle the marketing and customer service aspects of these contracts, and because we have already incurred the cost of the infrastructure and manpower to handle this additional traffic, we believe that we can undercut the competing residential VOIP providers in cost and service, while maintaining significant gross margins. Most exciting is that we have other negotiations ongoing in the same international consumer service space with providers in other countries, which we should be announcing in the very near future."