 Optimus Portugal selects Gemplus’ GemConnect Device Manager to improve customer care and boost data traffic
Luxembourg, 14 November 2005, – Gemplus International S.A.
(Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart
card based solutions, today announces the selection of its device management solution,
GemConnect Device Manager, by Optimus, the third largest mobile operator in Portugal.
Faced with increasing device complexity, Optimus was looking for a solution to
reduce the cost and time of customer care for device configuration issues.
Data services (MMS, email gateways etc.) require a greater amount of handset
configuration and set-up but the majority of users don’t know how to proceed or
rarely read the instruction manual. Consequently, customers are frustrated that
their sophisticated new phones seem complicated to use and operator’s customer
service costs escalate due to demands on the call centre. This ultimately impacts
the revenue that can be generated from new mobile services.
To address this, Gemplus’ GemConnect Device Manager enables Optimus to automatically
identify the handsets in the field and download the correct configuration over the air.
Once in place, the solution will help Optimus’ call centre staff to identify and rectify
any potential configuration problems. Should a user change to a new handset, the
application automatically configures the new handset so users will always get the
most out of their mobile device.
Highlighting the level of complexity facing mobile operators today, the solution at
Optimus supports 233 different handsets in total, including two 3G handsets, and has
already demonstrated its worth by reducing the time needed to resolve customer care
issues by a factor of three.
“With data services being one of the main drivers for our growth, we are constantly
expanding our data service offering to our customers. To ensure that our customers were
able to adopt these services easily, we needed a solution that would make these services
simple to access and easy to use. There is a wealth of handsets currently available, all
of which differ in many ways. The introduction of GemConnect Device Manager enables a
significant improvement in the end-to-end quality of service offered to our customers
and we give our customers more freedom to change the handset. Additionally, by being
able to remotely configure every handset with the proper settings we ensure that the
handsets do not become the roadblock to new services,” explained José Pinto Correia,
member of the board of Optimus.
GemConnect Device Manager enables customer care personnel to instantly identify the
handset model without asking the subscriber, and enables them to configure the user’s
handset according to the services supported (MMS, email, WAP, GPRS etc.). These services
are therefore made immediately accessible with no difficulty on the side of the end-user.
Subscribers are also able to use the solution via a simple SMS-based interface, further
reducing the number of calls to the operator’s call centre.
Philippe Vallée, Executive Vice President, Telecom Business Unit, Gemplus, said
“Not only does GemConnect Device Manager reduce the burden on customer services, but
it makes the whole mobile experience user friendly for subscribers. They no longer
have to manage complicated service set-ups. Even if they change handsets, the Gemplus
OTA technology effortlessly makes services available.”
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: Gartner-Dataquest 2005, Frost & Sullivan, Datamonitor). It has
sold over 5.5 billion smart cards.
Gemplus delivers a wide range of portable, personalized solutions in areas
including Identity, Mobile Telecommunications, Public Telephony, Banking, Retail,
Transport, Healthcare, WLAN, Pay-TV, e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2004 was 865 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com
About Optimus
From its beginning in 1998, Optimus has been steadily growing in the Portuguese
market, having in view a sole objective: to be the leader in the Portuguese telecom
market, providing its Customers with high-quality services and mobile phones that
improve people’s lives because they simplify, bring near and amuse. Optimus had
already over 2.1 million customers.
Optimus is the only mobile communications company in the world to have won three
consecutive GSM Awards, a distinction that reinforces its international recognition.
In Portugal, the new operator has also won a number of important awards; its
technological excellence has also been recognized by the Institute of Communications of
Portugal by means of the results of a survey carried out by the sector regulator regarding
the quality of mobile networks in Portugal.
By constantly launching new products and services in the Portuguese market –
mobile portals, SMS news services, entertainment services, GPRS services – Optimus is
also the leader in terms of the usage of new technologies.
For further information, please visit www.optimus.pt
For more information
Jane Strachey
Gemplus
Tel: +33 (0)442364661 / +33 (0)676493593
Email: jane.strachey@gemplus.com
Matthew McGuinness
Edelman
Tel: +44 (0)20 7344 1259
Email: matthew.mcguinness@edelman.com
©2005 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, 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.
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