SK Telecom Selects Gemplus' USIM Card for 3G W-CDMA launch and 3G MONETA Mobile Proximity Payment

The Gemplus USIM cards support primary networks, 3G W-CDMA, CDMA 2000 1X and GSM

Luxembourg, 19 February 2004 - Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card based solutions, today announced its selection by SK Telecom, the leading provider of mobile telecommunications in Korea, to deliver USIM card technology for the commercial launch of its 3G W-CDMA network.

The Gemplus "GemXplore 3G" USIM cards deployed for SK Telecom support all three primary networks currently available: 3G W-CDMA, CDMA 2000 1X and GSM. They also support WIM (Wireless Internet Module) as an additional security feature for WAP based mobile commerce transactions and the VSDC (VISA Smart Debit Credit) application by VISA International for the world's first mobile proximity payment service on USIM card, MONETA.

SK Telecom first introduced the 'MONETA card' in 2001, co-branded with VISA. The IC Credit Cards were issued by prominent banks and credit card companies in Korea and included all conventional credit card functions and others such as e-Money (Visa Cash), loyalty, and SK Telecom membership. In early 2003, the upgraded version of 'MONETA Card' was introduced as 'MONETA Chip' - also recognized as a 'Credit Card in a Cellular Phone'. The plug-in type IC credit card, inserted into the mobile phone, contained the Credit Card application, which enables CDMA subscribers to use their mobile phone to pay for goods and services by IrFM (Infrared Financial Messaging) or RF (Radio Frequency) at physical terminals.

SK Telecom launched (and issued) the 3G MONETA Chip from Gemplus for their 3G W-CDMA network on 29 December 2003. The card is available to all 3G W-CDMA subscribers. This achievement proves SKT as a pioneer of this most advanced m-commerce services and demonstrates again GEMPLUS' technical leadership in the Smart Card industry worldwide.

This strategic collaboration of SKT and GEMPLUS, leaders in their respective industries, marks a historical milestone in the convergence of the financial and mobile telecommunications services.

"SK Telecom successfully launched the 3G MONETA Chip for 3G W-CDMA last December. We are confident in bringing the one-chip service to the market for the first time in the world, and believe that these achievements will prove our leadership in Mobile Finance Technology." Said Jin Seok Cha, Vice President, SK Telecom MONETA Division.

"Gemplus has been going from strength to strength in terms of 3G network deployment and this is the culmination of much hard work and a project management strategy. We have been working closely with both SK Telecom and VISA International in order to bring this to fruition and are delighted with the results. This is the first large scale deployment of mobile proximity transactions via a mobile phone and Gemplus is pleased to have been involved since the beginning." Said Akio Kondo, President, Gemplus Japan/Korea Region.

* Mobile proximity Payment: the ability to perform payment by physically putting a mobile device close to a physical point-of- sale terminal. 
* USIM: Universal Subscriber Identity Module 
* VSDC: (Visa Smart Debit Credit) 
* WIM (Wireless Internet Module)

About Gemplus 

Gemplus International S.A.(Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world's leading player in the smart card industry in both revenue and total shipments (source 2002: Gartner-Dataquest, Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor.) It has the largest R&D team, unrivalled experience, and an outstanding track record of technological innovation.

Gemplus offers an exceptional range of portable, personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people's lives. These include Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail, Transport, Identity, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, access control, and a wealth of other applications.

Gemplus' revenue in 2003 was 749,2 million Euros.

www.gemplus.com

For more information

Jane Strachey
Telecom PR Manager, Gemplus 
Tel: +33 (0)4 42 36 46 61 / Mobile +33 (0)6 76 49 35 53
e-mail: jane.strachey@gemplus.com

Vanessa Clarke
Account Director, Edelman 
Tel: +44 (0)20 7344 1349 / Mobile +44 (0)7730 989 698
e-mail: vanessa.clarke@edelman.com

©2004 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus and the Gemplus logo 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.

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.