Press contact Gémenos, April 16, 1999 -- Gemplus, the world's leading provider of smart card solutions, announced today it has implemented a SIM Tool Kit based service allowing subscribers to benefit from two phone numbers, one for business and the other for private purposes.
The service called "Les Uns ... Les Autres" launched on March 30 by French operator Cegetel is based on a specific SIM card developed by Gemplus using the GSM standard SIM Toolkit. This is one of 30 new value-added service applications being developed worldwide by Gemplus using SIM Toolkit technology. Cegetel's "Les uns ... les autres" is targeting professional subscribers willing to manage and control their time using two phone numbers, one for business and one for private calls, but keeping a single pricing scheme where minutes are shared between the two numbers.
"Gemplus is already one of Cegetel's strategic partners and was identified as a key contributor in the design development of this innovative and operator specific service that will differentiate Cegetel's offer from its competitors," said Christophe François, Service marketing and strategy director at Cegetel. "Gemplus was the first SIM card vendor to implement a SIM Toolkit application in Europe two years ago. Its unparalleled experience in the field offered Cegetel a golden opportunity to accelerate time-to-market for its new value-added services."
"SIM Toolkit is one of the most mature technologies for developing value added services for GSM subscribers that associate worldwide acceptance at a relatively low cost compared to developments that rely on network facilities," said Frédéric Spagnou, Executive Vice President, General Manager EMEA at Gemplus. "Gemplus' implementation of Cegetel's new value added service shows it is the best placed to develop this type of application on a commercial scale."
SIM Toolkit is now an accepted GSM standard, allows operators to differentiate their services with Value Added Services (doing more with a mobile phone than talking, for example banking, e-mail, getting information). The "Les Uns ... Les Autres" service demonstrates the proactive response of an operator using the most advanced technology available.
Until now, subscribers were obliged to disconnect and key in a new PIN number when switching from business to personal use or vice versa, and even to swap the SIM card. With this new service all the subscriber needs is one single GSM phone with one single SIM card. The subscriber also has one single mailbox that differentiates and classifies incoming messages according to the type of call, business or private.
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