Gemplus, Mobistar and Banksys present mobile banxafe - The First National Mobile Payment Application For Belgium

Mobistar customers first to benefit from prepaid top-up solution, using Gemplus Java CardTM Technology and Banksys' payment platform.

• Range of Payment services for Mobistar customers (prepaid top-up, mobile commerce, mobile banking)
• First prepaid top-up solution for the Belgian market working with all banks
• Interoperable JavaTM technology-based SIM ToolKit application with highest level of Smart Card security (Common Criteria EAL 5+)

Cannes, 18 February 2003, Gemplus (Paris Euronext: Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card solutions, announces the launch of the world's most secure mobile payment and banking service, mobile banxafe, developed in conjunction with Banksys, Belgium's leading expert in secure payment systems, and deployed by Mobistar, one of Belgian's leading mobile network operators.

End-users are now able to reload their prepaid account with their mobile phone in a totally secure way. By harnessing the inherent security of the SIM and the SMS channel, operators are best placed to offer their customers with prepaid mobile services (mobile banking and m-commerce) as a first step towards deploying macro-payment solutions.

When making a mobile payment, the customer will receive a description of the transaction, displayed directly on his/her mobile phone screen. To authorize this, the customer will enter his mobile banxafe PIN code, or digital signature, which is then verified by the applet. If the PIN is correct, the signature is sent to the authentication server via the SMS channel, which authorizes the transaction to be processed. Payment commissions are fixed and shared in collaboration with the banking sector, which is responsible for the authorization, risk management, clearing and settlement.

Banksys is Belgium's Electronic Fund transfer operator for all electronic payments. Most Belgian banks are shareholders, which makes it the best partner for such a solution. Therefore, Mobistar customers can belong to any bank and still benefit from this service. Mobile banxafe has been completely integrated in the current debit payment system, which means that a mobile banxafe payment is treated, tracked and managed in exactly the same way as a card debit payment.

Bernard Ghillebaert, CEO, Mobistar, said, "This solution means that we can offer our customers with Belgium's first mobile commerce services. Pre-paid top-up enables us to build relationships with an important market segment. We can achieve this by offering improved convenience and added security for mobile banking and commerce solutions to pre-and post paid customers. Quite simply, mobile banxafe is the most advanced and innovative mobile payment solution on the market to date."

Vincent Roland, Senior Vice President, Banksys, said "Our vision is to expand our product range by securely integrating our payment platform into mobile networks. As an expert in secure payment systems, we are able to offer mobile payment solutions to Mobistar customers regardless of the bank they belong to. M-banxafe, the results of the strong collaboration with Gemplus and Mobistar, is in line with our strategy to make the most of the opportunities that mobile commerce will bring."

"Gemplus sees the role of the smart card as increasingly instrumental in the roll out of mobile commerce. Providing operators with SIM-based solutions for the roll out of secure mobile data services is where we see the future of Gemplus in telecom", said Philippe Vallée, President, Telecom Business Unit, Gemplus. "Proven business cases and strong partnerships will make a success of mobile commerce and we are delighted to be involved in one of the first real projects in Europe.

About Gemplus

GEMPLUS: the world's number one provider of solutions empowered by Smart Cards

Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalized 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 revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest, 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 2002 was 787 million Euros. It employs 5766 people in 37 countries throughout the world.

Gemplus: Beyond Smart
www.gemplus.com

About Mobistar

Mobistar (EURONEXT BRUSSELS: MOBB) is one of the leading telecommunications operators in Belgium, operating in the mobile telephony, fixed telephony and other high growth potential markets (data transmission, Internet, etc.). Mobistar, one of the fastest growing operators in Europe, is the Belgian subsidiary of Orange S.A., which handles all of the international mobile telephone business of France Telecom. Mobistar is listed on the Brussels stock exchange. At the end of December 2002, Mobistar had a total of 2,305,390 active customers.

About Banksys

Banksys was created in 1989 as a result of the merger of the Bancontact and Mister Cash networks. Banksys' mission is to authorise, secure and guarantee electronic payments in Belgium. The company has already won national and international acclaim for its debit card payment systems (Bancontact/Mister Cash) and its smart card system (Proton). Building on this experience Banksys is currently developing activities in the international terminal and card market and offers its know-how in the area of secure payment systems world-wide. Banksys' range of products includes a number of innovations such as the mobile payment terminal C-ZAM/SMASH GSM and the C-ZAM/PC, which enables secure payments over the Internet. Banksys currently has almost 1000 employees. In 2001, Banksys managed 146,982 terminals (payment terminals and ATMs), on which 623 million transactions were made involving over 32 billion euro. Last year, Banksys achieved a turnover of 256,8 million euro.

Contacts

Thierry Bouckaert
Head of Corporate Communication, Mobistar
Tel.: +32 (0)2 745 71 18
tbouckae@mail.mobistar.be

Jane Strachey
Gemplus
Tel +33 (0) 442364661
Jane.strachey@gemplus.com

Marina De Moerlooze
Manager Corporate Communicatons Banksys
Tel +32 (0)2 727 68 22
Marina.demoerlooze@banksys.be

©2003 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus and the Gemplus logo are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus 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.