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 2002
Round-Up of Gemplus Telecom Activity Shows Smart Card Solutions Driving
Industry Developments
CARTES 2002, PARIS - 5 November 2002 - Gemplus (Paris Euronext:
Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ:GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart
card-enabled solutions, today reviews its telecommunications business
showing a marked increase within the telecom industry to adopt smart card-based
solutions.
Since announcing a strategic move from being a smart card provider to
being a SIM-based solutions provider at 3GSM World Congress in Cannes
earlier this year, Gemplus has seen telecom operator take-up of SIM-based
technology rise across all continents.
Over the last year, Gemplus' strategy has been focused on helping operators
maximise the potential of the SIM in order to increase ARPU in a highly
competitive environment. By bringing operators closer to their customers,
Gemplus was able to help secure the operator's place in the value chain
by offering a range of end-user value-added services. The aim was to position
the SIM as an architectural control point helping operators enhance the
end-user experience, provide secure mobile transactions and deliver mobile
content.
The strategy has proven to be a success with operator adoption of SIM-based
solutions on the rise since early 2002. The SIM'Xplore partners
program was the result of Gemplus actively seeking partnerships with third
party content and service providers in order to present operators with
a range of solutions from location-based services to mobile entertainment.
Furthermore, MTS, Russia's leading mobile network operator, has
already seen the benefit of deploying SIM-based solutions. Their SIM-based
services, MTS-Info, based on Gemplus technology and expertise, have already
accounted for 5% of billable SMS traffic over the Russian airwaves.
In the area of 3G, Gemplus has been busy building on experience gained
in 2001 with NTT DoCoMo and implementing this with KT ICOM
for the launch of their 3G trial service during the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
Operators in Europe are also pushing forward on 3G developments, with
mobilkom austria adopting Gemplus USIM cards and its software development
kit, GemXplore CASE for 3G, for their recent 3G launch.
Deploying Java Card™ technology remains high on Gemplus' priority
list in order to open up operators' networks to the worldwide resource
of Java™ technology developers. Orange UK and Vodafone
Ireland are rapidly implementing their first Java SIM cards from Gemplus.
The recent release with Vodafone Ireland outlined how the card was specially
designed to act as a common platform enabling Vodafone to deploy a consistent
set of services for end-users across the Group.
A key differentiator for Gemplus is in the ability to use the card for
implementing customer management solutions preventing churn, increasing
loyalty and reducing the cost of logistics for the operator. Gemplus P-CRM
(Predictive-Customer Relationship Management) recently launched GemSuite
InTouch, an application designed to help operators improve the acquisition
and loyalty of their customers. Already deployed with TMN in Portugal,
GemSuite InTouch works alongside GemSuite P-CRM, to offer a comprehensive
customer management solution. In the same vein, Gemplus P-CRM solutions,
specifically GemSuite Churn, enabled Telia to reduce the rate of
churn for their fixed line service by 11% in just four months.
Enabling secure mobile transactions is a concept at the heart of Gemplus'
strategy. Therefore, the partnership with iPIN was an important
milestone for Gemplus as proof of their commitment to mobile commerce.
Signed in June 2002, this partnership is a strategic alliance to jointly
offer the next generation of secure mobile payment solutions designed
specifically for the pre-paid mobile market - called GemSuite Reload,
powered by iPIN. In addition, Gemplus has teamed up with Orange Dominicana
and Banco Popular to launch the first mobile banking service in
the Dominican Republic and the first pre-paid reload services in Latin
America.
Global results of Gemplus' continuous efforts to maximize the value and
effectiveness of the SIM have resulted in the company delivering over
500 million smart cards to the telecommunications industry and winning
it the 2002 Frost & Sullivan Market Value Award.
"The last two years in the telecommunications sector has been turbulent
with lower than expected uptake of new data services. This has put the
entire smart card sector under pressure to show where smart card solutions
have a direct role to play in helping operators reach their customers,
personalize their service and generate customers that will demand higher
value data services," said Philippe Vallée, president of the
telecom business unit at Gemplus. "The smart card has a crucial role
to play in enabling a seamless and ongoing dialogue between the operator
and customer. Our strategy will continue to focus on working with operators
to identify and understand their diverse audience and deploying smart
card-based solutions to enrich the relationship between the two."
About Gemplus
GEMPLUS: the world's leading provider of smart card solutions
Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalised
solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These
include mobile Internet access, inter-operable banking facilities, e-commerce
and a wealth of other applications.
Gemplus is the only completely dedicated, truly global player in the Smart
Card industry, with the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and
an outstanding track record of technological innovation.
In 2001, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenues
and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest and Frost &
Sullivan). Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2002 Market
Value Award for its exceptional performance.
Gemplus trades its shares on Euronext Paris S.A. First Market and on the
NASDAQ Stock Market as GEMP in the form of ADSs. Its revenue in 2001 was
1 billion Euros.
Gemplus: Beyond Smart www.gemplus.com
For more information contact:
Gemplus
Jane Strachey
Gemplus Telecommunications PR Manager
Tel: +33 (0) 4 42 36 46 61
Email: jane.strachey@gemplus.com
©2002 Gemplus All rights reserved. Gemplus,
the Gemplus logo, SIM 'Xplore, GemXplore and GemSuite are trademarks and
service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are registered in certain countries.
All other trademarks and service marks, whether registered or not in specific
countries, are the property of their respective owners. Sun, Java and
Java Card are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. in the United States and other countries.
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