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Sybase 365 and MoPay International Launch Pioneering Mobile Commerce Initiative for Under-Serviced and Unbanked Communities in South Africa


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Project Removes Geographical Barriers To Facilitate Bill Payment And Interaction With Key Public Services

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – AFRICACOM — Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY),the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce, today announced it is working with MoPay, an independent mobile services provider for the banking, telecoms and technology industries, to enable diverse communities in South Africa to access mobile commerce services.

This partnership will improve access to financial services for the under-serviced and un-banked communities of South Africa – individuals that would ordinarily struggle to connect with traditional banking and commerce mechanisms due to geographical or sociological barriers. Aimed primarily at lower to middle social groupings that are dependent on services provided in municipalities, it will also facilitate enhanced efficiency of payment collection for government bodies, utilities providers and educational organisations.

Sybase 365 is managing all of the messaging interconnection for the service using a dedicated SMS short-code - 31636 - that functions across all South African operator networks. Sybase 365 also provides the mobile payments platform, to process all financial transactions between the customer and the government and corporate entities.

“It is very rewarding to be at the forefront of a project which can really make a profound difference to the lives of people in South Africa. So many people are faced with a half day round trip to reach services that they can now access using a network independent, ubiquitous mCommerce service. It would be difficult for a farmer to give up a day tending his farm to go to visit his bank,” said Cobus Potgieter, CEO, MoPay. “Our partnership with Sybase 365 enables us to extend mobile-based service offerings to many more diverse, under-privileged and remote communities.”

“Projects such as this are changing the way in which South Africans can transact with key organisations,” said Matthew Talbot, vice president, mCommerce at Sybase 365. “Significant numbers of unbanked individuals across South Africa, who have no formal relationship with a financial institution, can now easily pay for a variety of core services, and receive disbursements via the efficient and trusted mobile channel.”

The initial service provides real-time electricity pre-pay meter recharge for Eskom (the South African electricity public utility) and various municipalities using the MoPay mobile wallet running on a network independent platform. The service is designed to enable lower income consumers to easily manage their electricity payments by way of micro-payments and help municipalities and public utilities improve payment efficiencies. A key element of the service is to facilitate the distribution of Free Basic Electricity tokens (tokens distributed by the government to low-income households), sent by SMS to registered meter owners, thus improving the accessibility of this vital state benefit to poorer households. In future MoPay intends to add a variety of innovative social payment and disbursement schemes to the portfolio, with a significant focus on assisting the government of South Africa and socially targeted corporations to disburse and collect funds.

Although a commercial trading entity, MoPay is a unique organisation that focuses on the social needs of communities in an inclusive manner. As well as providing this payment mechanism, MoPay also facilitates other services vital to thriving villages and communities, such as free communications, free SMS between schools and parents and free content for schools and students. For example, the supply of 30 minutes free and uncapped Internet time at Vlocity Hotspots all over South Africa to MoPay users.

For more information about mobile commerce services, visit Sybase 365 at:
AfricaCom, November 11-12, 2009, Cape Town, South Africa. Stand # B13A

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About MoPay International
The current MoPay International Limited supplier relationship framework includes members of the banking-, telecoms-, hardware-, software-, and service supplier communities. MoPay is independently held, active in projects in many countries worldwide and increasingly acts as a technology distribution platform, along with its sister media company OmniMo International Limited. For more information, visit www.mopay.co.za, www.omnimo.tv and www.mobilehub.co.za

About Sybase 365
Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. (NYSE: SY), is the global leader in enabling mobile information services for mobile operators, financial institutions and enterprises. We provide our customers with the widest offering in SMS, MMS and GRX interoperability, end-to-end mobile commerce solutions, innovative text messaging, mobile marketing and content delivery services. Sybase 365 processes more than one billion messages per day, reaching 800 operators and 3.4 billion subscribers around the world. For more information, visit: www.sybase.com/365. Read Sybase blogs: http://blogs.sybase.com.

Sybase and Sybase 365 are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sybase, Inc. All other company and product names mentioned may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated. ® indicates registration in the United States.

Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in this release concerning Sybase, Inc. new and expanded business relationships and products are forward-looking and involve a number of uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those suggested by these forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the performance of the global economy and growth in software industry sales; market acceptance of the company’s products and services; customer and industry analyst perception of the company and its technology vision and future prospects; the success of certain business combinations engaged in by the company or by competitors; political unrest or acts of war; possible disruptive effects of organizational or personnel changes; and other factors described in Sybase, Inc.’s reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.



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