In the first of
these articles,
Anatomy of a Teleca~
[j
he most obvious feature on
the front of the card is, of
course, the design: France
Telecom discovered early on
that this could be a major selling point
with the result that some very attractive
cards have been produced. Indeed,
several are works of art in themselves,
having been commissioned from
famous artists in conjunction with
galleries.
Themes
A wide range of themes has been used -
although restrictions exist concerning the
topics th.\;Itcan be shown. The 'banned'
list includes tobacco and alcohol: drinks
ads managed to get through the net only
in 1988 and 1989 when three cards
were produced for Kronenbourg lager,
and one each for Gordon's Gin and J&B
Whisky, making this, perhaps, the
smallest collectable French theme!
In 1989, when the law changed,
collectors were caught on the hop: Whyte
& Mackay were running a competition
which included, among the prizes, a
limited-edition phonecard. Unfortunately,
the ban on booze ads came in at the
same time and collectors who were
eagerly awaiting their special cards
received, instead, a 50-unit definitive -
albeit in a Whyte & Mackay's souvenir
pocket. Repeat protests from collectors
to the competition's promoters were, of
course, to no avail.
There are also restrictions on
political and religious topics, as well as a
ban on anything likely to give a negative
view of France Telecom. Even a card
sponsored by a collectors' club managed
to fall foul of this last restriction: it
showed a prisoner drawing 'five-bar
gates' on the wall of his cell as he used
up his units during a call. Finally, he
exclaims: "Must finish: I've only got five
units left!". FTconsidered that the
message might be misconstrued. So the
five-barred gates were replaced by hearts
and the message made 'warmer':
"There's time for only one more heart - to
say 'I love you'!".
RALPH ADAM outlined
the development of
telephone cards in
France up to the
arrival of the chip
card. This month, he
describes the features
20 of the typical French
phonecard - as viewed
from both its sides
Value indicator
This is enclosed in a box and follows the The ISO
same
label 'Telecarte' - a name which France module
line as the issue date on the
Telecom had the foresight to register as position
reverse; others (including the
a trade mark (earlier cards were labelled
experimental cards which were supposed
'Phonecard' and 'Carte telephone').
to be returned after use) can often be
spotted only by recognising the module
Chips
type or the chip series number, These
The part of the module you can see has
the gold contacts linked to the tiny micro-
processor in the silicon chip where all Modul, without
the information is stored. Aspects of it background; small arrow
which produce collectable varieties are:
1.Module position. This can be either
upper left, the traditional position set by
AFNOR,the French national standards
authority, or the newer centre-left
location specified by the International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
Some cards which went through
different printings during the
changeover period (1993) can have
their modules in either position.
2.Module type. About thirty different
modules have been used so far. These
have come from five manufacturers, of
which three (Gemplus, Schlumberger and
Solaic) are at present contracted to
produce cards.
A new generation chip was introduced in
January 1996 after a long test period. It
is known as the 'T2G' and identification
can require expertise: the production
cards mostly have 'T2G' inscribed on the
cards can be used only in specially-
adapted telephones.
It is probable that the earlier chip
cards will all expire on 31st December
1999, as no one thought to programme
the chips to work in 2000 !
3.Background to the module. There
are two things to watch for here: the size
of the module's background and the size
and shape of the direction arrow
(showing which way to insert the card)
have both varied.
The Reverse
o Number of units. Apart from the
recently-introduced five-unit promotional
issues, only three card values have so
far been issued: 40 units (until 1987),
50 units (from 1987) and 120 units.
f) Type of card. Different sales and
distribution conditions distinguish the
various categories of card: private (not
Au Iii des saisoons,les horizons
comme les sensationschangent.
Cette emotion,vous pouvezla
communiquerIe plus lacilement
du monde.
(;;:,
~ ranee
for sale), public (can be sold only if protect
sealed or if purchased from a vending collectors
machine) and five unit (cannot be , from fraud: it
exchanged or refunded). Note: cards from is the same
machines are never sealed; except in number as
rare cases they are catalogued as that contained
'excellent used' and, consequently, are in the chip's
of less value than mint cards bought memory and
elsewhere. can be verified
by inserting the
e Logo. The illustrations show the three
main 'France Telecom' logos. Earlier
card in a reader.
On Schlumberger
cards were worded 'PTI cards the
Telecommunications' . positions of the
o Card numbers. The numbering
two numbers are
format has changed several times over
the years. The card illustrated shows
o
reversed.
RegieT's
how numbers have typically appeared address. Regie T is
since 1994. a company created in 1986, half-owned
Of the two numbers, the upper one is by France Telecom. Its functions are to
the batch (or control) indicator and its promote and sell advertising space 9n
initial character represents the
manufacturer (shown by the prefix letter-
phonecards, to distribute the cards,
devise marketing strategies, collect data
in this case '8' for Gemplus: other and develop overseas markets for the
manufacturers' codes are 'A' for Solaic, French system. In some countries, such
'C' for Schlumberger and '0' for as Mexico, Regie T has created local
Oberthur); the first two digits give the subsidiaries.
year and month of production (the Regie T's address, which is not a
illustration shows '55' - 1995, distribution point for collectors, has
May): October, November and changed several times over the years.
December are shown as 'A', '8" The layout of the address may vary for
and 'C' respectively. After this different printings of the same card. At
comes a five-figure production- one time, limited-run private versions of
run/machine indicator, normally public cards could be distinguished by a
preceded by a '0' or a '1'. 'deliberate error' in the spelling of the
The lower number is one of address!
several security devices designed to
Telecarte
120 unites
Cette carte ne peut etre vendue
~ que sous emballage scelle ou par
~ distributeur automatique
~
§
§ '~France TelE=com
~;:: 'I '4" i i :..::;
'::1.:+
Regie T
F T La communicatio sur la Telecate
elf:r;om 133av, des Champs - Elyses
75409 Pans Codex 08
 o
Innovatron's Dutch phonecards, for

.,
symbol. example).
Roland
The symbol is found
Moreno is L'~O~~~U'I~
throughout the world, wherever a ","{\\~RI••
regarded a the
licence or permit is in use. Two C dan~ AISIR"
'father' of the ~BO~I'V'
versions of the Innovatron symbol Al \'9114)
chip: in 1974
have so far appeared on French Un lil(1l~I~OO
he patented a fR",~CIS
phonecards, but its future may not
memory card "{\etot1\
be long: since the end of 1995, G ffante e follows
and, in the early
Schlumberger Industries have eJ the date and gives a
eighties,
dropped it on the grounds that they
developed the global figure for a single printing of
consider the technology to be in the
integrated-ci rcuit all cards with an identical face. The
public domain (as their own licences for
micro-chip card. figure can, therefore, include both
France have expired). The situation is
Moreno's 50 and 120 unit cards, as well as
unclear and other manufacturers have
company, whole series of production dates
not, so far, followed suit.
Innovatron, holds and several modules. Current
public issues can have print-runs
the patents for
these inventions
G Reverse of the module. One way of
ranging from 15,000 to five million,
identifying the manufacturer of a card is
and, as a result, every organisation but a large run may include
by looking for the back of the module. If it different varieties - with an average
using Moreno's devices is obliged to
is visible on the reverse of the card (it
carry his trademark. Whether for of, perhaps, only 30,000 cards oJ:
appears as a round 'window'), the
phonecards, parking permits, health each type. It is important to note
producer will have been Schlumberger. that the production figure on the
records, controlled-entry cards or any
Collectors distinguish between three
other type of microchip card (though it back of a card may differ from that
sizes of 'window' they can be 6mm, 7mm given in a catalogue. This is
is sometimes very hard to spot - as with
or 11mm in diameter. because editors often obtain
Phonecards are often used to
publicise France Telecoms'services:
three way calls o Date. Since October 199.0, French
cards have carried a production date: an
printing breakdowns for each
variety and it is these figures that
they quote (if no breakdown is
innovation which has proved very available, it is conventional to show
helpful to collectors. Some issues this by a percentage - % - symbol).
have had several print runs and the
various dates create major varieties In this article I have summarised
in themselves. the main features of French
cards. Next month, I shall
discuss errors and varieties.

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