Safaricom Selecting Gemalto Cloud-Based Solution

Gemalto, in digital security, announced that Safaricom Ltd, a mobile operator in
Africa, with over 18 million customers, is using its LinqUs Cloud Backup
solution to offer mobile subscribers in Kenya a backup service for phonebook
contacts.

Compatible with most of the handset models, the solution ensures that Safaricom
customers can protect themselves against the disruption caused by phone theft,
loss, damage or replacement, through saving all their contacts in
the mobile operator’s cloud-based storage service.

Gemalto’s LinqUs Cloud Backup is already used by more than 140
million subscribers across the world and is particularly relevant in emerging
markets such as those in Africa, where the mobile phone is fast becoming the
most widespread computing device, and where the many SMBs rely on the integrity of their mobile phonebook contacts to operate.

LinqUs Cloud Backup combines both SIM and handset phonebook backup systems and
this feature is unique to the Gemalto solution. It is simple to use as
protection of the entire phonebook is just a single click process and
restoration of contacts is straightforward.

For Safaricom, the contacts backup service represents both a
differentiator and a new income stream within the competitive mobile
communications market. Furthermore, customer loyalty is enhanced with churn
rate dropping* as the mobile operator is recognized and trusted as the guardian
of the subscriber’s valued contacts information.

"The mobile phone is a technology
that forges strong emotional bonds with the user, and we fully understand how
important contacts data is to our subscribers. That’s why we are putting secure
and convenient cloud-based backup services within easy reach, enabling them to
safeguard and retrieve contacts at any time and from anywhere, no matter which
type of phone they use. This mass market service fits perfectly with our
strategy to offer complete peace of mind to all of our customers’ needs,"
commented Thibaud Rerolle, technical director at Safaricom.

"With the help of LinqUs cloud
Backup, Safaricom offers customers the opportunity to protect themselves
against the consequences of losing a wealth of personal – and business-critical
data, simply because a handset goes missing. It will give the operator a solid
and secure platform on which to build premium subscriber services,"
said Eric Claudel, SVP for telecommunications at Gemalto Middle East &
Africa.

*2012 Gemalto’s studies show that subscribers using the service
are staying on average an extra 9 months with the same operator.