History of the Calling Card

For over 30 years, calling cards have been used throughout the world. Since their inception in Europe in 1975, calling cards and the phone card industry have grown exponentially worldwide. Currently, phone cards are sold in over 200 countries across the world.

Originally, prepaid phone cards were produced out of need in Italy as a result of payphone theft and vandalism as well as a national coin shortage. Cards had a magnetic strip on the back for use in special public phones. The first cards were too thin and jammed frequently. Prepaid calling cards using magnetic strip authorization spread to the rest of Europe including to Austria, Sweden, France, and The United Kingdom. In the late 1970’s, Nelson G. Bardini in Brazil invented Inductive technology. This system used a series of coils embedded in the card that would break when the minutes were used up. The card was first shown at a national inventors' exhibition in 1982.

Japan's Nippon Telephone and Telegraph introduced the first Japanese prepaid phone card. Japanese commuters had to use a large coin to operate payphones on their subways. The Japanese card was considerably more convenient and was sold to tens of thousands of daily subway riders in Osaka and Tokyo.

In the mid 1980’s France experimented with chip-based "smart cards.” In 1987, the World Telecom Group was the first company to launch a significant phone-card product in the United States. GPT, a consortium formed by Siemens and GEC (General Electric Company), developed and issued cards with their own magstripe (magnetic stripe) technology which is now among the most widely used magstripe cards in the western hemisphere.

During the late 1980’s, the first catalog of telecards for phone card collectors was published by Dr. Steve Hiscocks, in England. Many people collect calling cards today just like stamp collectors collect stamps.

In 1989, AT&T entered the prepaid calling card market. They were the first to produce remote telecards that appeared shortly thereafter in Hawaii.

Early in 1990, NYNEX (New York's RBOC or Regional Bell Operating Company) offered the first non-magnetic based calling cards in the U.S. These were prepaid calling cards that used a PIN (Personal Identification Number) as a means of identification. Nynex's card permitted the cardholder to dial a toll-free number and enter his or her PIN to make long distance phone calls at a much lower rate from any telephone in America.

Two years later, all of the major regional and long distance phone companies as well as many of the smaller carriers were offering pre-paid phone cards. Industry-wide revenues reached $12 million with projections calling for double that over the next several years. By 1993, phone card sales exceeded $25 Million.

Displaying exponential growth, calling card sales exceed $250 Million in 1994. By late 1995 sales hit $650 million. That same year, US West provided the first chip-based prepaid cards. Sprint released "FONCARD" and Bell Atlantic temporarily discontinued its calling card efforts.

In 1996, Calling card sales reached an unprecedented $1 Billion. American Express also entered the market that same year with its own prepaid calling card. By 1997, sales reached over $2 Billion.

At the turn of the millennium, the first disposable combination cellphone/calling cards made their appearance as sales of over $3 Billion were achieved in the industry with no end to the expansion in sight. Frost & Sullivan estimate that in 2004 sales reached 31 billion.

Calling cards are now sold through virtually every conceivable channel, from convenience stores and corner cafes to vending machines. Pre-paid cards now co-exist with and in many cases have replaced collect calling and coin pay phones as the preferred method of placing calls. Calling cards are also extensively used to make local or intralata calls where the local phone company is unable to provide competitive rates.

The industry is still full of surprises and rapid technological advancement. MyCyberCard.com is one of the first companies to provide virtual calling cards. These virtual “cards” are available for purchase online and exist without any real tangible card. Most virtual cards are PIN-based and are emailed to the consumer at the time of purchase. The access numbers and PINs are immediately available for use. Get your MyCyberCard virtual card now!