Movistar Selects Esmertec's USSD Platform for Latin American Operations

Esmertec™ (SWX:ESMN) today announced that Telefónica México has chosen Esmertec’s USSD Browsing solution to improve self-care capabilities for customers and in-store prepaid credit top-ups for distributors and dealers in five Latin American subsidiaries. Service deployments began at Telefónica México with the third quarter launch of customer self-care services, which enable users to manage their accounts directly from their handsets. Telefónica México has marketed its USSD Browsing services under the name "Apantallame”, which cleverly plays on the Spanish words "Surprise Me” and "Screen” while also hinting to new users to look at their screen after dialing into the application. Apantallame offers postpaid subscribers account billing and usage information and prepaid users advanced balance check, rate-plan management and top-up capabilities. Telefónica México customers have embraced the operator’s first USSD service thanks to Apantallame’s rapid response times and intuitive navigation. The user-friendly browsing menu was immediately available to Telefónica’s 11 million customers directly after launch due to the ubiquitous, mass-market reach of USSD. Telefónica also modernized its top-up options for their partners by launching Esmertec’s Distributor Recharge application, which is a handset-initiated application allowing distributors to instantly top-up customers’ prepaid credit at moment of payment. Telefónica México is currently planning additional launches of the USSD distributor top-up application in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador. "We are extremely pleased with the success of Telefónica México’s USSD services and we look forward to furthering our relationship with Telefónica movistar in Central America,” commented Jean-Claude Martinez, CEO of Esmertec. "With USSD Browsing, Telefónica will increase customer satisfaction with enhanced self-care services while also strengthening partnerships with dealers and distributors due the rapid and continuous availability of the USSD top-up application.” About Esmertec Esmertec is a focused provider of software and services to communications device manufacturers and mobile telecom operators. The company provides software platforms that enable the deployment of content and applications in devices and over servers. Customers include mobile telecom operators and manufacturers of mobile handsets, set-top boxes and interactive televisions. Esmertec is a member of the Open Handset Alliance. Founded in 1999, Esmertec is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland with subsidiaries in China, France, South Korea, and the USA, and offices in Taiwan and the UK. Since 2005, Esmertec has been listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange (ESMN). About Telefónica México Telefónica México is a leading and innovative provider of products and services within the telecommunication industry and consolidates all its operations under the brand movistar. Since its market entry, movistar has been characterized as offering the best telecommunication solutions for pre and postpaid users and business customers. Telefónica México has currently 11.1 million customers. Esmertec and Jbed are trademarks of Esmertec AG. Java is a trademark of Sun Microsystems Inc. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks of their respective owners.