Gemplus and Fundamo sign sales agreement for mobile payment solution

Luxembourg and GSM Africa, 30 March 2004, Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world's leading provider of smart card-based solutions, and Fundamo, a South African banking and mobile commerce software company, today announced an agreement to co-distribute and sell their joint solution for mobile payment and financial transactions, globally, but with an initial emphasis on emerging mobile markets within Europe, the Middle East and other countries within Africa.

The mobile payment application, already deployed in the African market, is the result of integrating Fundamo's mobile payment, mobile banking and mobile-commerce technology into Gemplus' GemXplore U-choose S@T-enabled SIM cards. Gemplus also provided the infrastructure to operate the service on the mobile network operator's behalf. This solution has already been successfully implemented in Zimbabwe with 121CellMoney. It is interoperable between the three mobile operators (NetOne, Telecel and Econet).

This partnership began in South Africa, where both Gemplus and Fundamo are well established. Using Gemplus' wide distribution network, it is envisaged to take the solution to emerging markets for mobile solutions, where particularly the entry-level range, based on electronic top-up for prepay subscribers, is well suited. Regions initially targeted include Africa, the Middle East, Russia and Serbia. Mobile services enabled by the Gemplus-Fundamo solution include: Person-to-person payments, bill payment, purchase for goods and services, pre-paid top-up and cash-on-delivery payments.

Michel Canitrot, VP Sales, Gemplus, said: "Offering electronic mobile top-up in countries where in some cases 95% of subscribers are pre-pay makes good business sense. Fundamo's suite of products is well suited for integration into the SIM and this is, to my knowledge, the most high-end value-added mobile service to date in the African market."

By providing complex and efficient mobile payment applications for southern African mobile markets, Gemplus and Fundamo are reinforcing their already strong position within these countries.

"The formalization of this agreement builds on a three-year relationship with Gemplus," says Hannes van Rensburg, CEO, Fundamo. "Achieving the backing of such a large global player verifies the quality of our products and provides Fundamo with global access and exposure to a considerable international customer base in the mobile operating space."

About Gemplus

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 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com

About Fundamo 

Fundamo is a South African banking and mobile commerce software company that is making considerable inroads into mobile finance and e-commerce with its deployment of software that enables secure financial transacting via mobile phone in South Africa and several African countries.

For more information

Jane Strachey
Gemplus
Tel : +33 (0)442365596
jane.strachey@gemplus.com

Linda Doke 
FHC Strategic Communications 
Tel: (021) 790-5287 Cell: 083 447 9378
linda@inkpotandquill.co.za

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