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Zain Group Selects Oberthur Technologies' End-to-End Security Platform for Africa's Biggest Mobile Commerce Service

Posted on: Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 01:00 CST

PARIS, February 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Oberthur Technologies, one of the leading suppliers of smart card based solutions, announced its selection by Zain Group to provide end-to-end security solutions for Mobile Commerce services, including security platform and SIM application for secure payment transactions. The solution was commercially launched by Zain under the name Zap to East Africa's 100 million people. The service is immediately available to Zain customers in Kenya and Tanzania. Zap will be rolled across Africa and the Middle East throughout 2009.

Zain is partnering with leading international and regional banks to launch Zap, which will allow Zain customers to use their mobile phone to:

- Pay bills and pay for goods and services - Receive money and send money to friends and family - Send and receive money to the bank accounts - Withdraw cash - Top up their own airtime account or top up someone else's - Send airtime to Zain customers in East Africa - Manage their bank accounts

The Zap service will also be included as part of Zain's pioneering One Network service which allows travelling customers to move across geographic borders without roaming surcharges, recharge their mobile phones with locally purchased top up cards and receive calls for free.

The user interface is easy to use and has been customized for each Zain operator across the continent. Oberthur Technologies' expertise both in mobile and in the banking environment combined with the capability to support Zain Group at both local and global level were key to succeeding in the implementation of this major secure solutions project.

"Zain is demonstrating its ambitious strategy to become one of the top ten leading telecom companies in the world. It was key for us to reward a long term partnership, involving Oberthur Technologies in this prestigious project. By enabling people to use their mobile phones as mobile wallets, we hope to deliver lasting benefits not just for our customers, but also for the economies of Africa." said Chris Gabriel, CEO Zain Africa

"We are proud to participate in the deployment of such a new advanced secure technology in Africa and the Middle East. The Mobile Commercial Security solution introduced in the market by the Zain Group offers a new level of payment and banking services to customers, and we are very pleased to continue investment in new solutions which benefit the daily life of people in developing markets." said Thierry Siminger, Russia, Middle-East and Africa Managing Director at the Card Systems Division of Oberthur Technologies.

About Zain

Zain is a leading emerging markets player in the field of telecommunications aiming to become one of the top ten mobile operators in the world by 2011. Zain was established in 1983 in Kuwait as the region's first mobile operator. Since 2003, it has grown significantly becoming the 4th largest mobile network in the world in terms of geographic presence with a footprint in 22 countries spread across the Middle East and Africa providing mobile voice and data services to 56.3 million active customers (as at 30 September 2008).

Zain operates in the following countries: Bahrain, Burkina Faso, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. In Lebanon, the company manages the network on behalf of the government operating as mtc-touch.

The Zain brand is wholly owned by Mobile Telecommunications Company KSC, which is listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (Stock ticker: ZAIN). The company had a market capitalization of over US$ 23.4 billion on 30 September, 2008.

For more information, please visit http://www.zain.com or email info@zain.com.

About Oberthur Technologies

With sales of 879 million Euros in 2008, Oberthur Technologies is a world leader in the field of secure technologies. Innovation and high quality services ensure Oberthur Technologies' strong positioning in its main target markets:

- Card Systems: One of the world's leading providers of security and identification based on smart card technology and associated services for mobile, payment, transport, digital TV and convergence markets. - Identity: International player for the manufacture and personalization of secure identity documents such as passport, identity card, driving license or health care card - traditional and electronic - and associated services for both governmental and corporate markets. - Fiduciary printing: World's third largest private security printer specialized in high security for the production of banknotes, checks and other fiduciary documents in more than fifty countries. - Cash protection: World leader in the emerging market of intelligent systems to secure cash-in-transit and ATM.

Close to its customers, Oberthur Technologies benefits from an industrial and commercial presence across all five continents.

Oberthur Technologies S.A. is a limited liability company (société anonyme) registered in France with its registered office at 50 quai Michelet 92 532 Levallois Perret, France. Oberthur Technologies S.A.'s corporate registration number is 340 709 534 R.C.S. Paris.

Website: http://www.oberthur.com Oberthur Technologies Matthew Stroud Press Contact Telephone: +33-1-47-85-58-06 Email: m.stroud@oberthur.com

SOURCE Oberthur Technologies


Source: PR Newswire

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