Phonecards:

 -New Telstra phonecards

Sea mammals limited edition folder. 1,500 made. Bottle-nosed dolphin, West Indian Manatee, Humpback and Beluga whales.

Australian Sailing Ships. Has the matching stamp on the card. 10,000 made

Year of the Rabbit set of 3: 100,000 $5; 50,000 $10; 20,000 $20.

TOM & JERRY 140,000 made $10

JERRY 127,000 $5

Sussie O'Niell 150,000 made Here and There 105,000 made

Bush Flower 150,000 made Gumnut 130,000 Coral Cod 13,200

Prepaid Phoneaways: Year of the Cat 10,200 made $20 Year of the Rabbit 20,400 $20 made

Quarterly Collector cards: Autumn each card $5 and 800 made: tree, leaves, brook

ANDA Perth Fair. Has a coin on the card. $5 800 made

Collector service has lowered the mintage of the collector cards from 1,000 to 800.

All cards 5,000 Lire

Roberto Baggio Oliver Bierhoff

Gulf Air Manga

Marvel Comix

/Contributed by Paolo, collector/

- PT-1 Communications Inc., the nation's largest prepaid calling card provider and a subsidiary of STAR Telecommunications Inc. today announced that it has signed a distribution agreement with Integrated Payment Systems Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of First Data Corporation

First Data has chosen PT-1 to be the exclusive provider of prepaid calling card products using point-of sale activation at over 15,000 Western Union money order locations throughout the United States. Western Union is a unit of First Data Corp.

"PT-1's market-leading calling card products will greatly benefit from this alliance with Western Union, one of the best known and far-reaching financial service institutions in the U.S.," said Chris Edgecomb, Chairman and CEO of STAR. "We have been aggressively expanding the distribution of PT-1's products and today's announcement is an exciting step forward in our growth plans."

"This is a tremendous addition to the PT-1's distribution network," said Sam Tawfik, CEO of PT-1. "By adding electronic point of sale delivery of PT-1 calling cards at Western Union money order locations throughout the U.S., we're one step closer to our customers. As 1999 progresses, we will continue to expand into more communities throughout the U.S. and into foreign markets."

-For more promotions please visit The CardBoard

- After 3 days the Cards New Zealand '99 expo in Auckland is over. It was a showcase for the best in smart cards and cash cards. Two cash cards were produced specifically for the show:

- Mondex chip card showing 3 people walking the edge of a coin. On the back are images of the major sponsors of the expo, including Coca Cola, Bank of

New Zealand, SmartMove and Security Plastics. - EFT-POS New Zealand Ltd chip card showing the image of a chip. Both these cards could be used in Coca Cola vending machines situated around the expo.

A third card being distributed by EFT-POS NZ was a chip card with the words "the future is Visa investing in tomorrow's technology today" and the "relationship card" and diagrams on the back.

An innovative smart card design from Schlumberger is bringing a new dimension to the highly successful VisaCash(tm) electronic purse in Spain.

The new multi-application payment card - which combines a conventional debit function with an e-purse incorporates a contactless wireless interface allowing 'hands free' payment. The first to exploit the potential of this powerful new capability will be a consortium of transport operators and Spanish banks: a pilot scheme scheduled to start later this year will explore the use of the card'sVisa Cash for public transport ticketing in Madrid and Barcelona.

This is believed to be the first time that a regular bank payment card has been fitted with a contactless interface. The new card offers two core functions. The first is VisaCash, a well-established technology inSpain which may be used for a wide variety of payments including public phones and car parking. To date, this application has operated via conventional contact-based smart card terminals. The new contactless interface opens up many new possibilities. The second function is Visa Electron(tm) debit payment, which operates via a magnetic stripe. This application includes all the security printing techniques normally associated with such cards, a technical feat for a contactless smart card with its built-in antenna.

Unlike other combined contact/contactless smart cards, where payment tokens merely share the card with the main application, the new VisaCash card provides a common e-purse for any form of payment. So, when the consumer uses the card on a bus or train, for example, payment is taken from the e-purse in complete security.

To win the hearts of consumers, new smart services must be intuitively simple to use, and the new transport applications are a classic example. It is much easier and quicker to walk by a barrierthan to queue for a ticket, or use a contact-based terminal, while the fact that payment is taken from a single e- purse again makes consumers' lives simpler, and their budgets easier to manage.

"The Spanish banking community has been very quick to grasp the potential of smart cards for developing differentiating services," says Schlumberger Bank & Retail Sales Manager, Jrme Traisnel. "By integrating different applications on the same card, and exploiting combined contact and contactless technologies, Visa Espaa is actually delivering the levels of consumer convenience and ease of use that multi-application smart cards have always promised."

The development extends the scope of one of the world's most successful e-purse schemes, with more than five million cards currently in circulation in Spain. These smart cards use the TIBC card operating system developed by Visa Espaa and used in Spain and South America. This already provides a common e-purse for multiple payment applications such as public payphones, car parking and petrol retail, as well as supporting other uses such as ID and campus access control for university students.

Ease of use for consumers is, of course, only achieved by considerable card engineering skills. The new combined Visa Electron and VisaCash card looks just like the familiar payment card, even down to the area for the holder's signature, but it incorporates all the features required for both contact and contactless transactions - including the radio antenna required to communicate with terminals up to 20 cm away.

The common e-purse means that all transactions are subject to the same high level of security, regardless of whether the transaction takes place via contacts or over the air, breaking new ground in smart card technology. The resulting card provides the key to a vast range of value-added services, of which the public transport application is only the first to be explored.

Schlumberger, with its card manufacturing facility in Barcelona, is the largest and best-known supplier of smart cards in Spain, and has already supplied most of the VisaCash cards currently in circulation. Its Barcelona plant manufactures both chip- and magnetic stripe-cards, with personalisation services available to card issuers via Barcelona and Madrid.

- Oberthur Smart Card Makes Aggressive Move in Emerging U.S. Card Market; Smart Card Manufacturer Optimistic on U.S. Business Applications as Competitors Scale Back Operations

Oberthur Smart Cards, a leading manufacturer and solutions provider of micro-processor, magnetic stripe and memory cards worldwide, is expanding its North American presence.

Amid major retreats and restructuring by its competitors, Oberthur will move decisively deeper into the U.S. market that has proven to be a difficult territory for many smart card manufacturers.

Based on its successful penetration of the U.S. security, business and telecommunications markets, Oberthur has invested in the future of smart card technology in North America by building the largest card manufacturing facility on the continent. The new 106,000 square foot plant which is officially inaugurated today in Los Angeles will enable the annual production of more than 200 million cards.

"The smart card industry can capitalize on e-commerce as it matures by developing security and transaction solutions for the corporate and government communities," said Alyxia T. Do, industry analyst at Frost & Sullivan. "Oberthur, by developing products for these emerging areas while maintaining a strong mag stripe position is poised for continued growth in the card industry."

"The proliferation of e-commerce and Internet applications has made security a critical issue for public and private sector organizations," said Philippe Tartavull, chief operating officer, Oberthur Smart Cards USA. "Oberthur smart card solutions will address the security needs of the financial, government, and telecommunications communities as they continue toward a greater reliance on e-commerce and the Web."

"From conventional magnetic stripe cards to cutting edge microprocessor cards, Oberthur has a strong history of delivering quality cards to our clients around the world," said Kirk Hyde, president & chief executive officer, Oberthur Smart Cards USA. "With our new facility in Los Angeles, the largest of its kind in North America, we'll continue our tradition of quality far into the next century."

Bruncor, Island Telecom, Maritime Telegraph and Telephone, and NewTel Enterprises, owners of the four Atlantic telephone companies, have agreed to merge on May 31. The provincial telcos themselves will continue as separate entities and keep their current names. BCE Inc. wi will own 41.6% of the merged company.

The government said in its New Telecoms Policy 1999, unveiled by Communications Minister Shri Jagmohan, that it intended to create a futuristic telecom infrastructure.

``The new policy will aid the proliferation of Internet services in India in a big way,'' it said.

The government, balancing past commitments made to private firms under an old policy and emerging technology changes leading to the convergence of data, sound and video, wants to gradually introduce a free market system, officials said.

The new policy proposed to move from the existing regime of tenure-based telecommunications license fees to one involving a one-time entry fee and a revenue sharing arrangement with the government.

The new policies will be implemented in vacant zones or areas vacated by existing licensees.

The policy, which is to take effect in April, strengthens the role of regulatory authorities, clips the wings of powerful state-run incumbents and junks antiquated laws governing wireless and cable-based communications.

Private companies will be allowed to compete in the domestic long-distance telephone market from January 1, 2000 and the government will review in 2004 the question of opening international telephony to competition.

``It is a big positive,'' said a telecommunications analyst with a European securities firm. ``The detailing of the policy lifts the cloud of uncertainty over the whole telecommunications sector and the stage is now set for its rapid growth in India.''

The new policy curbs the overarching power of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which has faced fierce criticism from private firms because it plays the roles of licensor and policy-maker as well as service provider.

The DoT will become a corporate firm by 2001, and a new Department of Telecom Services will be created to separate policy and licensing functions from service functions. ''The new policy assures the industry of level playing field conditions between all operators -- public and private,'' Industry Group on Telecommunications (InGot), a representative body of private telecommunications firms, said in a statement.

The government said its goal was to make telephones available on demand by 2002 and to raise the density to 15 telephones per 100 people by 2010 from the current two per 100.

Last year, more than 3.2 million people in urban India were waiting for telephone connections. The government formed an inter-ministerial group in November to come up with a new policy.

Private firms that had won licenses under the old policy had faced difficulties from low subscriber growth, regulatory deficiencies, reluctant bankers and the powerful DoT.

Private licenses have taken effect only in six of the 21 zones for which tenders were awarded in fixed telephony. The new policy allows cable television networks to provide voice and data communications in recognition of the revolutionary potential of convergence of information technology, telecommunications, television and consumer electronics, the government said.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom on Thursday declared their global telecoms joint venture with Sprint Corp would achieve its profit goals after a report said it was close to collapse.

Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom told Reuters that international project Global One would break even by end-2001.

Both were responding to a report in the New York Times which said the consortium members would agree to dissolve the joint venture within as little as six weeks.

``France Telekom is reaffirming its confidence in the development of Global One,'' company spokesman Bruno Janet said.

``We are convinced, as is Deutsche Telekom, that Global One will achieve its profitability targets before the end of 2001,'' he said, echoing Deutsche Telekom's comments.

Citing executives close to the Global One venture, the New YorkTimes article said Sprint chairman William Esrey sent a letter three weeks ago to Deutsche Telekom's Ron Sommer and France Telecom's Michel Bon.

Esrey reportedly said the venture, created in 1996 to offer largemultinational corporations complete telecoms services, was failing in its current state.

U.S.-based Sprint was not immediately available for comment.

France Telecom declined to comment on the Esrey letter and Deutsche Telekom declined to acknowledge there was a letter.

The two each hold a 25 percent stake in Global One with Sprint holding 50 percent.

Tensions within the Global One partnership have been well documented over the years, with some corporate financiers saying it was only the political will of the French and German governments that held the group together in its current form.

Analysts say the group was slow to resolve operational issues about how to tackle markets outside France, Germany or the U.S. and have pursued potentially conflicting investment strategies in Asia-Pacific.

Nevertheless, some were surprised that the New York Times article, which followed so close on the heels of analyst presentations by both France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom, was predicting the partnership's imminent collapse.

``France Telecom's analyst meeting (on March 18)...was the first analyst meeting we've ever had where the forecasts haven't been revised down,'' said James Golob, telecoms analyst at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London.

``There have always been lots of tensions and Global One has never worked very well, but it seems to have worked better in the last six months than it ever worked before. So it is surprising that Sprint should be looking to blow it up now rather than a year ago,'' he added.

Loss-making Global One launched an extensive restructuring last year after under-estimating a sharp fall in the cost of international calls and the complexity of amalgamating the networks of the three shareholders to form a worldwide system.

- EBRD may take Moldovan energy, telecom firm stakes The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is considering taking stakes in Moldovan energy and telecommunications companies which are set for privatisation, a senior bank official said.

``We are working on new proposals for privatisation in Moldova's telecoms and energy sectors,'' Thomas Maier, an EBRD director in charge of Moldova, told a news conference late on Wednesday.

Maier said Moldova's recent government crisis had made foreigners hesitant to invest in the country and the EBRD's participation could attract foreign businessmen.

He gave no further details of the EBRD's plans to participate in future sell-offs.

Last December Moldova's parliament approved sell-offs of majority stakes in eight electricity companies and national telecoms monopoly Moldtelecom. Tenders are due to be held later this year.

The electricity companies involved are three generating plants -- two in the capital Chisinau and one in the northern town of Balti -- and five regional distribution companies.

According to official data, the assets of the distribution companies ranges between 86 million Moldovan and 212 million Moldovan lei ($8.64 and $21.29 million). The value of the generating plants varies from 52 to 318 million lei.

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The "WPD news" is the free weekly news service of the WorldwidePhonecardDatabase (WPD). Copyright WPD 1999 PR is from Reuters