Issue 66. 03/18/01

Summary

-Phonecard, smartcard and telecom news from countries: England, French Polynesia, Italy, Singapore, Slovenia, USA,

-Other: CARDOY, PCE2001, new catalogues, magazine review and more.

The three year-old tradition has continued and now you can vote for your favorite phonecards of the past year.  Show your appreciation and help award your favorite cards.  Not only will your participate, but have a good chance of winning some valuable cards; everything from African to oil platform cards. Go and make your voice heard. VOTE NOW!

Phonecards: Phonecard Collectors EXPO 2001

PCE2001 Update: Free issues of TCDJ will be handed out at PCE2001!

-Telecom news:

Enel Announces Reduced Infostrada Purchase
Italian utility Enel reduced the price of its purchase of fixed-line phone company Infostrada from Vodafone. The purchase price is set between 3 billion euros or 3.5 billion euros lower than the original price of 11 billion euros. The lower price comes after Italy's antitrust authority approved the deal based on the condition that Enel could acquire Infostrada only if agrees to sell 10 percent of its current generation capacity. Enel used this as leverage for cutting the cost of the acquisition. After the deal is closed, Enel plans to roll Infostrada into Wind, its joint venture with France Telecom.

BellSouth and Sprint In Merger Talks
BellSouth could be making a play for long distance and wireless provider Sprint, sources close to the companies say. A report in the Washington Post speculated that BellSouth could be looking to add Sprint to its operations, although a finalized deal is probably months in the making. BellSouth's interest in Sprint is nothing new: 17 months ago, BellSouth's made a bid of $100 billion to buy Sprint, but was topped by WorldCom's $129 billion offer. With $19 billion in assets, Sprint is now worth just a fraction of what suitors were willing to pay for it a year and a half ago. According to sources, BellSouth is considering a complex deal that involves buying Sprint's long distance and wireless businesses, then selling its 40 percent stake in wireless joint venture Cingular to its partner SBC Communications. 

Phonecard NEWS:

-Excerpt from BT Collector's Club newsletter:

"We begin the New Year with a number of cards commemorating the Global Challenge yacht race, two can be ordered in the normal way whilst the other must be ordered separately. I'll explain exactly how a bit later.

The first two cards featured are a £10.00 Globalcard and a £2.00 Phonecard, both depicting one of the yachts competing in the Global Challenge yacht race. We have 500 of each.

We also offer you the opportunity to buy your own limited edition BT Global Challenge Phonecard and, at the same time, help to make a lasting difference to the lives of children today and tomorrow. Lee Wilson, Vice President (VP) Communications Ignight Content Hosting will be taking part in Leg3 of the BT Global Challenge race from Wellington to Sydney." http://www.payphones.bt.com/phonecards 

-New phonecards from Slovenia

0207 SIJAJ, SIJAJ, SONCECE 25 imp: 1.000 / 28.02.01
50 imp: 3.000 / 28.02.01
100 imp: 1.000 / 28.02.01

0208 EN HRIBCEK BOM KUPIL 25 imp: 500 / 28.02.01
50 imp: 3.000 / 28.02.01
100 imp: 1.500 / 28.02.01

0209 POJDEM NA ŠTAJERSKO 25 imp: 1.000 / 28.02.01
50 imp: 3.000 / 28.02.01
100 imp: 1.000 / 28.02.01

0210 VSI SO PRIHAJALI 25 imp: 500 / 28.02.01
50 imp: 3.000 / 28.02.01

/Impulz/

-New French Polynesian phonecards:

N° 109  1 000 Fcfp  Birds of Polynesia : A'O, a green heron, Butorides Striatus Patruelis Credit units 30  Printing 30.000 copies  Made by Gemplus	N° 110 2 000 Fcfp  Birds of Polynesia : Vini, Lori nonette, Vini peruviana Credit units 60  Printing 30.000 copies  Made by Gemplus	N° 111 5 000 Fcfp  Birds of Polynesia : O'mamao, Tahiti Monarch, Pomarea n.nigra Credit units 150  Printing 5.000 copies

-New Singapore Singtel phonecards

Design: Achievement
Denomination: $10
Card Mintage: 300,000
Control Prefix: 230SIGA2K

Design: Discipline
Denomination: $10
Card Mintage: 300,000
Control Prefix: 230SIGB2K

 
Design: School Girl
Denomination: $20
Card Mintage: 70,000
Control Prefix:  207SIGF99  

/Singtel/

Smartcard News:

-New Oberthur promo card:

A free sample of Oberthur’s GalactIC Card was handed out with each issue of Smartcard News

-Basiccard creates new Professional BasicCard ZC4.1:
Chiptype: Atmel 90SC3232C
32 KByte E²Prom
RSA 1024 bit, DES and 3DES
Protocol T=0 or T=1
9600 Baud till up 38400 Baud (PTS)
4 times faster then the version 3.x BasicCards
Avialable 5/2001 /Basiccard/

-Schlumberger Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Bull CP8, a Leading Smart Card Technology Provider

Magazine Review:

-Telephone- and DebitCard Journal

The TCDJ February issue has a variety of phonecard and smartcard articles, featuring TnGO cards, Visa Cash and other cards. As always there is a nice selection of phonecard and cashcard giveaway info and classifieds.

T&DCJ is a US publication, appearing monthly. Subscription for entire year is $30 for US/Canada or $40 for other. [email protected]  POBOX 525 Schenectady, NY 12301 US

New catalogues:

produces its 11th simplified catalogue, which is about Croatia.

Issued: MARCH 2001, 48 pages

• Introduction to Chinese cards collecting ;
• Fake cards from Afghanistan
• Updates from Norway, Feroer Islands, Paytel, Spain and Singapore

Price: Eu 3.89

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The "WPD news" is the free weekly news service of the Worldwide Phonecard Database (WPD). Copyright WPD 1999-2001