Phonecards:

Japan issues new chip telephonecards

Since April 1999 NTT is issuing new telephonecards with a chip. The cards are a little bit thicker than the Tamura magnetic cards, but thinner than the european chip cards. The weight of one card is 2.8 g compared to 2 g for a Tamura card. The cards come in 105 units for 1000 yen and are valid for more than 5 years. In the case of the card I bought in April 1999 at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, the expiry date is September 2004. For expired cards replacement is possible within 5 years from the expiry date, but a handling fee is required. The front shows a picture, the backside has a 13 digit alphanumerical individual number and the expiry date. It seems that the image on the front side is not encoded in the individual card number, thus classification of the cards will be difficult. One telephone number can be stored on the card.

Before use, the lower right corner of the card must be snapped off. Then the card is placed on a holder in the upper right corner of the telephone. Thus wear and tear is limited. Up to now I found the cards (sold in vending machines) and the phones ONLY at Haneda Airport. NTT plans to exchange half of their 800,000 public telephones within the next 5 years, thus they will be sold all over the country.

The cards are thought to be unforgetable, because the individual card number is stored in a central computer and the validity of the card is checked when it is used to make a telephone call. According to a card dealer this type of card will be issued for a transition period only. In a few years this type of prepaid cards will be replaced by debit cards where the cost for a call will be directly drawn from your bank account, using the same technology as now with the new cards. According to that dealer, the new type of cards generated little interest amoung Japanese collectors, because they will be out of date soon (even though they are still valid).

I think just the opposite. Because the cards are not well accepted among Japanese, the issued cards will be few and the market among collectors will be small. This offers a good opportunity to get a representative collection of the new cards.

/Contributed by Olaf Karthaus, collector /

 - Turrtle collectors! A New Omani card!

Green Turtle u:1.5 February 1999 350,000

Date Palm Tree u:5 February 1999 50,000

Indian Roller 2 u:1.5 February 1999 350,000

Calligonum Comosum Flower u: 3 February 1999 200,000

Underwater Life (Image Soon) u:1.5 March 1999 350,000

Lotus Flower (Image Soon) u:5 March 1999 50,000

/Contributed by Faisal, collector/

TIME Reach Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of a major telecommunication company (TIME Engineering) has taken over Uniphonekad. Currently, all magnatic (GPT) cards are issued with new logo and have "TIME Reach Sdn Bhd" written on the back instead of "UNIPHONEKAD". Beside issuing magnetic cards, TIME Reach Sdn Bhd also issue chip cards. However, this chip cards are to be used in only 1 location, i.e. the newly openned Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Future expansion of the chip card system to the whole telecommunication network (whole country) is possible but with a lower pace due to the slow down in economy.

Currently, there are 3 different companies producing chip cards in Malaysia, i.e. Telekom Malaysia, Citifon, and Time Reach.

/Contributed by Sun, collector /

In February 1999 Comstar issued a payphone card devoted to the premiere of N.Mikhalkov's film "The Barber of Siberia". Comstar's design was used not only on Comstar's payphone cards but also in the design of the web-site, devoted to the film and graphic products issued for the premiere. The card value is 2.5, the number of issued cards - 5000.

-New Norwegen cards

P28The Norwegian Cancer Society A promotioncard for the Norwegian Cancer Society, reminding us of taking care of our skin when sun-bathing.

Print run: 11 000, 10 units. Schlumberger. NOK 48,-.

Available from April ’99

P-29Same message as in P.28 Print run: 11 000, 10 units. Schlumberger. NOK 48,-. Available from April ’99

P-30 DEFA The company DEFA is informing their customers of an important phone-number if having problems with their car-alarm.

Print run: 11 000, 10 units. Schlumberger. NOK 48,-

P-31 Inform@fon This promotion card was issued in connection to the lounch of Telenors first Multimedia Payphone, Inform@fon, at the Oslo Airport Gardermoen the 17'th of mars 1999.

Print run: 10 000, 10 units. Schlumberger. NOK 48

All cards are urmet-magnetic and are 5,000 Lire

/Contributed by Paolo, collector/

P52 "Mobil" 2/99 Mintage: 2 000

/Contributed by Steve Eyer, dealer /

Carrier Services and Sprint Offer Value-Added Phone Card to America West FlightFund Members Carrier

Services, Inc. (CSI), the leader in providing value-added rechargeable phone cards to the business travel market, has joined with Sprint to offer America West Airlines (NYSE:AWA) frequent flyers the FlightFund Global Phone Card.

This new service offers members a rechargeable phone card with 200 domestic minutes of calling time and 500 FlightFund miles for only $50. At ten miles per dollar, the FlightFund Global Phone Card offers a unique way of earning miles from America West.

A Crystal Clear Choice for Calling Cards; Virtel and Crystal International Travel Group Announce a New International Phone Card for World Travelers Virtel(TM) and

Crystal International Travel Group, a leading outbound tour operator, have launched a new enhanced service calling card that will offer users significant savings on internationalcalls.

Crystal is the UK's largest ski tour operator and its brands include Jetsave and American Holidays. The contract with Virtel enables Crystal to issue 30,000 prepaid calling cards providing their customers with enhanced service calling cards, with voice, fax and email capabilities.

The Crystal Holidays Phone Card will offer users enhanced communication services and savings of up to 70% on standard international rates to more than 95 countries around the world and is simply activated through local free phone numbers, staffed bymultilingual operators.

Louise Newton, Marketing Manager of Crystal Holidays, said, "We are eager to offer our customers value for money in as many ways as we can. A calling card is easy for us to distribute and welcomed by travellers who like to be able to keep in touch with family while abroad."

The tear-off prepaid cards are issued with travel documents and can be used by travelers to make telephone calls from phone booths and hotel rooms at extremely competitive rates.

The cards are initially activated by customers using their standard credit cards to purchase call time credits to the monetary value of their choice. Once the call time credit reaches $1, the calling card is automatically recharged to the value specified by the user. The caller will, therefore, never be cut off mid-conversation and will never have to worry about having the right amount of change or currency to make a call.

Four-city Radio Campaign Launched to Spread ConsumerAwareness

The "virtual prepaid phone card" is seemingly a product whose time hascome.

Destia Communications, Inc. (formerly EconoPhone), an international, facilities-based, telecommunications company, has a hit on its hands in Presto! Card(TM), which customers use for domestic and international long-distance calls immediately after an easy sign-up at www.prestocard.com.

Quietly launched on the Internet in December 1998, Presto! Card is used actively by thousands of customers worldwide with a recharge rate of up to seventy percent. In addition, Destia has a patent application pending on the Presto! Card. The paperless pre-paid service (with no card to be lost or stolen) features a 9.9 cent per minute domestic rate with no surcharges (five cents per minute for domestic calls dialed in New York and Los Angeles) and international rates as low as 16 cents per minute. Presto! Card enhancements includeautomatic recharging and worldwide speed-dialing, as well as the addition of more local and internationalaccess services.

To help spread word of the card's convenience and cost-savings, Destia Communications has launched a radio advertising campaign in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles. The campaign, created by Ganz/Gross Advertising, New York City, features a series of four, 60-second humorous vignettes, that highlight the benefits of owning and using a virtual prepaid phone card.

- FCG, Inc. Announces Contribution to Aid Humanitarian Effort in Kosovo

FCG, Inc. announces that it will contribute 10% of its April, 1999 automated phone card recharge gross revenue to aid the humanitarian effort for Kosovo refugees.

Funds will be donated to the Red Cross International Response Fund (www.redcross.org), as well as other charitable organizations involved in the Balkan refugee effort. FCG, Inc. will also provide free phone cards to Kosovo refugees that settle in Washington state. 

-For more promotions please visit The CardBoard

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