China Unicom Orders Over Ten Million SIM Cards From Gemplus
Gemplus reinforces its market share in the important Chinese market
Luxembourg, June 23, 2003–Gemplus International S.A. (Paris Euronext: Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ: GEMP), the world’s leading provider of smart card solutions, announces its selection by China Unicom as a supplier of more than 10 million SIM cards for the second half of 2003. With a series of recent orders, including most recently one for 6.5 million cards, Gemplus reinforces its share in the very dynamic Chinese market.
“This is a great achievement for our local teams, and we expect more to come as Gemplus is well positioned to support China Unicom’s upcoming campaigns in both GSM and CDMA prepaid markets,” said Philip SHIH, President of Gemplus Greater China.
“Gemplus continues to prove itself to be a valued partner for supporting both our ambitious technological challenges while offering significant industrial support. The capacity of its Tianjin operation to supply us with instant mass deliveries was a critical element in our choice of Gemplus as one of our main suppliers,” added YU Yingtao, Vice General Manager of Marketing and Sales in China Unicom.
As the only company completely dedicated to smart cards and related solutions with a truly global reach, Gemplus has worked closely with China Unicom since it offered the first GSM SIM cards to their subscribers in 1995. Gemplus has played a fundamental role in the development and deployment of UIM cards in China Unicom’s CDMA network, which is the first smart card-based CDMA network in the world.
About China Unicom
China Unicom was established in July 1994 and listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock markets in June 2000. China Unicom is China’s second largest mobile communication operator providing a full range of telecom services such as domestic and international long-distance call service, mobile phone and data/IP network communications. Presently it has over 100 branches and several subsidiaries in the country’s 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. With nearly 50 million users, China Unicom is now the only fully licensed service provider in the country.
About Gemplus
Gemplus (Paris Euronext: Euroclear 5768 and NASDAQ: GEMP) is the world’s number one provider of smart card solutions. Gemplus helps its clients offer an exceptional range of portable, personalized solutions that bring security and convenience to people’s lives. These include mobile data services, inter-operable banking, identity, WLAN, m-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 2002, Gemplus was the worldwide smart card leader in both revenue and total smart card shipments (source: Gartner-Dataquest). Gemplus was also awarded Frost & Sullivan’s 2002 Market Value Leadership Award for its exceptional performance.
Gemplus’ revenue in 2002 was 787 million Euros.