Press Releases
SFR chooses eco-friendly SIM cards
- 400,000 eco-friendly SIM cards will be put in circulation
- 50% reduction of the SIM cards’ environmental footprint
As part of its environmental protection policy, SFR has chosen to use new eco-friendly SIM cards: EcoSIM. The new cards will cut in half the amount of plastic waste used for the renewal of a SIM card.
Using a technology developed by Oberthur Technologies, a new SIM card format has been created, half the size of a normal card. Manufactured with 50% less plastic, the environmental footprint of this new SIM card is reduced by half compared to a classic SIM card, from 16g of CO2 to 8g of CO2 generated per card.
This new format uses half the quantity of plastic for production and reduces waste. Until now, SIM cards were produced on sheets of plastic using a credit card size format. The procedure, patented by Oberthur Technologies, allows for the manufacturing of two SIM cards on the same amount of plastic instead of only one.
In September 2009, 400,000 eco-friendly replacement SIM cards* will be progressively put in circulation addressed to SFR clients. SFR initiated a global strategy to reduce the environmental impact of EcoSIM cards from production to client delivery. The clients will receive the new SIM card in an environmentally-friendly envelope (made of natural, non-treated, non-bleached fibers, a paper window, aqueous ink and glue without solvent). The paper used for the letter accompanying the card is made of 100% recycled fibers and printed with vegetable-based inks. In the future, the EcoSIM card could be deployed on a wider scale.
The EcoSIM card completes the different initiatives put in place by SFR for limiting its environmental impact: collection and recycling of used handsets, decrease in consummation of raw materials and reduction in the amount of packaging used, move toward online billing.
* Replacement SIM card: new SIM card ordered and sent by customer services to replace a defective, lost or stolen card; or to access new services.
Following the merger between SFR and Neuf Cegetel, the new SFR is now Europe’s largest alternative telecommunication operator, with a revenue of almost 12 billion euros in 2008 and a customer base of nearly half of all French people.
As a global operator, SFR is capable of satisfying the mobile services, fixed and Internet needs of the mass market and of business and wholesale customers. At end August 2009, SFR had more than
20 million mobile customers and more than 4 million broadband Internet households ; 169 000 business sites were connected to its network.
With its own mobile and fixed infrastructures and major expertise in IP areas (Internet Protocol), the new SFR will have all the resources necessary to become a responsible and open operator, which makes easier its customers’ digital life, still giving more simplicity, useful innovation and quality of service.
With 10 000 employees, SFR benefits from a stable ownership structure, with two major shareholders, Vivendi (56%) and Vodafone (44%).