 Oi Brazil welcomes all new subscribers with 128KB SIMs from Gemplus
45% of its data traffic comes from easy-to-use SIM menus
Luxembourg, 16 May 2006, Gemplus International S.A.
(Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP), a leading provider of secure card based
solutions, announces that Oi, the mobile wing of the Brazilian Telemar Telecoms Group,
is delivering Gemplus 128KB SIM cards to all new customers in their Brazilian GSM network.
Oi launched their GSM network in 2002 and the SIM has always played a key role in
marketing their brand and value added services to all its customers which now number
more than 9 million. This SIM offers new applications and content that optimize mobile
phone use and promote Oi’s products and services including city guides, news, stock
quotes, messaging, private data storage and phonebook synchronization and back-up.
Existing customers can also benefit from many of these services including phonebook
back-up, through remote SIM card updates.
"Our strength lies in understanding our customer, targeting services accordingly and
making the whole mobile experience a simple one, regardless of the handset, thanks to the SIM" said Alberto Blanco, Marketing Director of Oi.
"this strategy has helped contribute
to our bottom line which is why we looked to expand the service portfolio offered by our Oi Chip SIM"
The SIM is the most effective way of targeting all of their subscribers regardless of
their handset as it is a standardized, interoperable piece of every GSM handset. This has
been a successful strategy so far as Oi estimates about 45% of its data traffic revenue
comes from services based on the SIM, including ring-tone download, 90% of which are
launched via the interactive SIM menus. The SIM can be updated by an OTA platform
ensuring the services are always in tune with their customers’ needs.
Michel Canitrot, President of Gemplus, Latin America, explained, “Since the launch of
Oi’s GSM network, they have developed a reputation for innovation and one of the strongest
brands among Latin American operators. These latest services that Oi have deployed further
demonstrate the value of the SIM-OTA channel linking them with their subscribers.”
Two of the key assets of the SIM are security and contact management. Oi’s new personal
data service allows the user to store their information including bank account details and
credit card numbers securely on the chip which is then protected by a PIN. In terms of
contact management the users can store all new contacts entered to the SIM on a remote
server which can then be retrieved if the phone is lost or stolen. In the same vein the
Oi Super Torpedo service allows the user to blast SMS to distribution lists and organize
them in a PC-like file system. On top of the new services all of the existing services
such as chat, email, mobile banking, prepaid reload and airtime balance inquiry are
still available.
About Gemplus
Gemplus International S.A. (Euronext: LU0121706294 - GEM and NASDAQ: GEMP) is a
leading player in the secure 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, WiFi, Pay-TV,
e-government, and access control.
Gemplus' revenue in 2005 was 939 million Euros.
www.gemplus.com
For more information:
Tim Cawsey
Gemplus
Tel: +1 484-904-7946
Email: tim.cawsey@gemplus.com
Victoria Aitken
Edelman
PR Agency
Tel: +44 (0)20 7344 1258
Email: victoria.aitken@edelman.com
©2006 Gemplus. All rights reserved. Gemplus, the Gemplus logo,
are trademarks and service marks of Gemplus S.A. and are registered in certain countries.
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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
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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.
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