The first phonecards used in Trinidad and Tobago islands were from Autelca. First issued in 1987, the Autelca system was superseded by payphones from GPT in 1989. Many of these early cards are now difficult to find

Tamura were active in Venezuela already in late 1984. CANTV were investigating the feasibility of Card Payphones, and decided that a small field trial to commemorate the visit of Pope John Paul II in January. 2 cards were produced, BS50,00, and BS100,00, and have the distinction of being the first known Tamura phonecards, publicly issued after the Telecom 83 Geneva cards. A few other cards were produced in 1985-1986 to keep up the trial, and evaluate the Payphone usage, and by late 1986, plans were being made to expand the Card Payphone system nationwide. The National issue designs for the first set of 5 Pictorial phonecards were finalized by early 1987, and some early prototypes were produced. The very first dated controls are March and April 1987, and the early issues are distinguished by a GREY magnetic reverse, which was replaced by a SILVER reverse by June 1987. The inauguration ceremony took place on July 22, 1987, and the press took photos of Jose Luis Espinel, President of CANTV, making a call. A special commemorative folder was issued on the day to selected VIPs, containing a set of the public phonecards and one of the field trials.

Telemediacartes started up in 1985-86 as a company dedicated to the development and marketing of Smartcard operated systems. The goal was to introduce secure entry systems, gaming cards, smartcard payphone and banking (similar to IPSO) and a number of other applications. A number of smart card suppliers were used over the period of 1987 to early1990’s, but the first major supplier was Honeywell Bull with 3rd and 4th generation CP8 cards, supplied in plain stock, unprinted. Telemediacartes arranged their own printing and programming of all small batch test and demo cards, and many types were printed in quantities of 5 to 30 pieces, based on demo or test requirements. By 1988, Gemplus were introducing lowered cost smart cards, and a batch of AFNOR cards were introduced to Telemediacartes operation and testing. By late 1988, Oberthur were now supplying Telemediacartes with CP8 smart cards with oval contacts in ISO position, though Gemplus continued to supply cards into the 1990s. We have added this smartcard section with a little bit of chaotic order, trying to present batches of similar cards. thanks to Michel Mercier, and Emmanuel Coris for their support in this previously obscure, but important Smartcard section.

This section published with help from Jack De Langavant of Multos International, and Museum E-Purse specialist Mark Jacobs

Thanks to GSM Museum specialist Alain Knecht for his GSM support