UEPS Net 1 Ueps Technologies Inc

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- On September 27, 2005, the Washington, D.C.-based President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), announced a contract to strengthen the lifeline of essential drugs and supplies for people living with HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases in developing countries. The contract, called the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS), was awarded to the Partnership for Supply Chain Management (PSCM). PSCM is an organization formed by JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), and Management Sciences for Health (MSH), both U.S.-based non- profit organizations with extensive experience in public health and logistics management in developing countries. PSCM's project team includes 15 institutions from the private sector, non-profit, and faith-based communities. Over the past two years, Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. ("Net1" or the "Company") (NASDAQ:UEPS) has been working with JSI in South Africa to develop a system to track anti-retroviral drugs and to provide patient information and reporting capability for antiretroviral therapy (ART) patients and HIV positive persons receiving care and support but not yet requiring ART. In this public-private partnership, JSI facilitated the field-testing and refinement of the system at the service delivery level in both static and community outreach settings, and developed the reporting database, using Emergency Plan funding from USAID/South Africa. The system, STAT(TM) (Secure Technology Advancing Treatment), is based on Net1 biometrics and smart card technology. It is particularly responsive to the challenges of ART as it provides authentication of health care provider and patient, enables patient mobility, facilitates referral and follow up care, and fulfills the critical requirement for effective ART by operating off-line when needed. This last feature is essential, since many elements of HIV/AIDS care must be provided at the community level, where electricity and connectivity are often lacking. Furthermore, the reporting database provides programme managers and donors with accurate performance indicators and provides health facility managers with essential information to improve operational efficiency, on a 24-hour update basis. The STAT(TM) system was included in PSCM's proposal for SCMS as a viable solution for incorporation into individual country implementation plans, which are expected to be developed in early 2006, once PSCM's global infrastructure has been put in place and the project is in a position to begin providing goods and services on the ground. In South Africa the STAT(TM) system is already operational in two Catholic Relief Services/South African Catholic Bishops Conference ART clinics and eight ART community outreach projects, and in a palliative care NGO project in SOWETO, and is currently being rolled out in two hospitals and surrounding multiple referral clinic settings. This selection of diverse sites has clearly demonstrated that the Net1 technology operates successfully in the full range of ART and care and support health care settings and that it is beneficial to patients, health care providers, and programme managers. About Net1 (http://www.net1ueps.com/) Net1 provides its universal electronic payment system, or UEPS, as an alternative payment system for the unbanked and under-banked populations of developing economies. The Company believes that it is the first company worldwide to implement a system that can enable the estimated four billion people who generally have limited or no access to a bank account to enter affordably into electronic transactions with each other, government agencies, employers, merchants and other financial service providers. To accomplish this, the Company has developed and deployed the UEPS. This system uses secure smart cards that operate in real-time but offline, unlike traditional payment systems offered by major banking institutions that require immediate access through a communications network to a centralized computer. This offline capability means that users of Net1's system can enter into transactions at any time with other card holders in even the most remote areas so long as a portable offline smart card reader is available. In addition to payments and purchases, Net1's system can be used for banking, health care management, international money transfers, voting and identification. This announcement may contain forward-looking statements pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed, implied or inferred by these forward-looking statements, such as product demand, market and customer acceptance, the effect of economic conditions, competition, pricing, development difficulties, foreign currency risks, costs of capital, the ability to consummate and integrate acquisitions, and other risks detailed in the Company's SEC filings. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise any of these statements to reflect future circumstances or the occurrence of unanticipated events. Contact William Espley at Net1 Investor Relations at: Telephone: (604) 484-8750 Toll Free: (866) 412-NET1 (6381) DATASOURCE: Net 1 UEPS Technologies, Inc. CONTACT: William Espley of Net1 Investor Relations, +1-604-484-8750, Toll Free: +1-866-412-NET1 (6381) Web site: http://www.net1ueps.com/

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