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 China
Unicom Orders Over Ten Million SIM Cards From Gemplus
Luxembourg, June 23, 2003, Gemplus International S.A. (Paris Euronext:
Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart
card solutions, announces its selection by China Unicom as a supplier
of more than 10 million SIM(1) cards for the second half of 2003. With
a series of recent orders, including most recently one for 6.5 million
cards, Gemplus reinforces its share in the very dynamic Chinese market.
"This is a great achievement for our local
teams, and we expect more to come as Gemplus is well positioned to support
China Unicom’s upcoming campaigns in both GSM(2) and CDMA(3) prepaid markets,"
said Philip SHIH, President of Gemplus Greater China.
"Gemplus continues to prove itself to be a valued partner for supporting both our ambitious technological challenges while offering significant industrial support. The capacity of its Tianjin operation to supply us with instant mass deliveries was a critical element in our choice of Gemplus as one of our main suppliers," added YU Yingtao, Vice General Manager of Marketing and Sales in China Unicom.
As the only company completely dedicated to smart cards and related solutions
with a truly global reach, Gemplus has worked closely with China Unicom
since it offered the first GSM SIM cards to their subscribers in 1995. Gemplus
has played a fundamental role in the development and deployment of UIM(4)
cards in China Unicom's CDMA(5) network , which is the first smart card-based
CDMA network in the world.
About China Unicom
China Unicom was established in July 1994 and listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock markets in June 2000. China Unicom is China’s second largest mobile communication operator providing a full range of telecom services such as domestic and international long-distance call service, mobile phone and data/IP network communications. Presently it has over 100 branches and several subsidiaries in the country’s 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. With nearly 50 million users, China Unicom is now the only fully licensed service provider in the country.
About Gemplus
Gemplus (Paris Euronext: Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's number one provider of smart card solutions.
Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These include mobile data services, inter-operable banking, identity, WLAN, m-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 2002, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest). Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan's 2002 Market Value Leadership Award for its exceptional performance.
Gemplus' revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com
www.gemplus.com.cn
For more information, please contact:
Duan Yan
Gemplus Great China
Tel: +8610 6410 8001 ext.220
yan.duan@gemplus.com
Jane Strachey
Gemplus Telecom Business Unit
Tel: +33 (0) 6 76 49 35 93
jane.strachey@gemplus.com
Note to Editors:
1-SIM -- Subscriber Identity Module
2-GSM – Global System for Mobile Communications
3-CDMA -- Code Division Multiple Access
4-UIM -- User Identity Module; SIM cards for CDMA network
5-See related press release: “Gemplus selected as a key supplier for China
Unicom Horizon's CDMA network” http://www.gemplus.com/companyinfo/press/2002/telecom/china_unicom.html
Some of the statements contained in this
release constitute forward-looking statements. These statements relate
to future events or our future financial performance and involve known
and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our
or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements
to be materially different from any future results, levels of activities,
performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. Actual events or results may differ materially. Although we
believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements
are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity,
performance or achievements. Factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from those estimated by the forward-looking statements
contained in this release include, but are not limited to: trends in wireless
communication and mobile commerce markets; our ability to develop new
technology, and the effects of competing technologies developed and expected
intense competition generally in our main markets; profitability of our
expansion strategy; challenges to or loss of our intellectual property
rights; our ability to establish and maintain strategic relationships
in our major businesses; our ability to develop and take advantage of
new software and services; and the effect of future acquisitions and investments
on our share price. Moreover, neither we nor any other person assumes
responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such forward-looking
statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release speak
only as of this release. We are under no duty to update any of the forward-looking
statements after this date to conform such statements to actual results
or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated results
©2003 Gemplus All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus logo and GemSense
are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are registered in
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