Oman, 1985

In Oman several public card-based telephone systems were used. The first to be installed, in 1985, was provided by the Swiss Autelca, which also produced a series of 4 ordinary cards, with values in ryals,…

Pakistan, 1992

In Pakistan there were several telephone companies, and some of these installed, at the beginning of the 90s, their public telephone system, using different systems: magnetic, optical and chip. The first cards issued in the…

Palestine, 1998

The State of Palestine used its first telephone cards in 1998, issued by Palestine Telecommunications Company P.L.C., a company founded in 1995 when only 3% of the Palestinian population owned a telephone. The first issue…

Philippines, 1990

In this country, several prepaid phone card systems are currently in use, but the first public-line telephone system to be installed, in 1990, was the Japanese Tamura, which then also provided the first issues, a…

Qatar, 1984

The first public card-operated telephones were supplied to Qatar Telecom in 1984, together with the first supply of cards to be used as field trials. These were two values, 100 and 200 QR (the local…

Saudi Arabia, 1984

Saudi Arabia adopted the magnetic card system provided by GPT in 1993, but in previous years several tests were conducted with various systems: in addition to the GPT itself, also with Anritsu, Alcatel, and, first…

Singapore, 1985

Colorful GPT cards which are well known to collectors were introduced in Singapore in 1989, but Tamura cards have been in use since 1985. The first cards were a set of 5 values, $ 2…

South Korea, 1986

Autelca magnetic cards were initially supplied in 1986 and used for many years, with several thousand different printed cards. In 2000 the magnetic system was abandoned and chip cards were introduced.

Sri Lanka, 1992

At the beginning of the 1990s, two telephone companies shared the market in Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka Telecom and Lanka Pay Phones. Both companies had their own phone cards: first the Lanka Pay Phones, which…

Syria, 1990

The first cards in Syria were magnetic and were supplied by Tamura: a series of 4 cards with face values of 200, 500, 1000 and 1500 units, which were used for some years. Later the…