TECHNOLOGY - March 2, 1995

Phone Card Deal: Gold Express Corp. in Newport Beach said its Atlanta-based subsidiary, Globaltelcom, has won a contract to provide promotional telephone calling cards that could generate $20 million in revenue.

The initial contract calls for Globaltelcom to provide 100,000 credit cards for Hitachi Telecom USA Inc. printed with images of the company’s products. Distributed at trade shows and other events, the cards will allow convention-goers to avoid some long-distance charges by using Globaltelcom connections.

Those who continue using the debit cards after their promotional value is used up will generate revenue for the subsidiary, said Greg Gilbert, president of Gold Express Corp. “We’re hoping to have some other agreements that are like this one soon,” he said. “People will do a fair amount to avoid long-distance charges.”

Globaltelcom has five employees and expected $25 million in revenue this fiscal year before the Hitachi agreement. Gold Express is also the parent company of Smartcom International in Newport Beach, with 12 employees.

Smartcom is developing a video-telephone computer system that it expects to introduce later this year.