Seeker Wireless fixed mobile convergence breakthrough

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 03 October 2006 10:25

Business IT - Technology

Seamless integration with fixed network services is the goal of many mobile operators, but available solutions all have major shortcomings. An Australian wireless location specialist claims to have come up with technology that addresses these.

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The solution developed by Seeker Wireless in essence relies on a small application running in the cellphone which is able to determine its location by measuring the relative strengths of all the base stations within range. The handset then reports back into the network when, and only when, it is moved into or out of the home zone. This enable the operator to apply the appropriate tariff and other service parameters of the converged offering, but without massive investment in additional technology and without loading up its network and central systems to manage the determination of the handset's location.

Andrew Grill, the company's general manager and head of global sales, told iTWire: "We've developed a convergent solution that uses existing handsets to detect if you are in a "home zone" to within a few hundred metres and we're taking the telco world by storm - having signed a contract with a mobile operator.

"Our solution is simple - an applet on a SIM card provides the handset (once registered with a HomeZone) live, accurate zone detection displayed on the handset idle screen and zone changes sent back to a server (and them passed to an intelligent network or billing platform) only when the subscriber moves - massively reducing signalling traffic."

Grill was speaking to iTWire the day prior to his relocation to the UK to head up the company's European office. "The operators we're speaking to in Europe 'get' our concept," he claimed.