Seeker Wireless enhances 'home zone' mobile technology

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 22 September 2009 15:13

IT Industry - Strategy

However, according to Seeker Wireless, "a server-only version can be launched without the need to deploy applets on SIM cards, enabling rapid deployment with 100 percent handset reach...The zone size for the server-only version is now more than 50 percent smaller than first-generation Cell-ID systems, yielding a commensurate reduction in cannibalisation."

An adjustable operating point allows the operator to adjust the reliability and zo ne size in fine increments to a level that suits their service requirements and Seeker Wireless says it has incorporated software enhancements that mean SeekerZone can be deployed with an even lower cost for hardware and third-party software than earlier releases.

For services requiring the ability to manage terminating calls and SMS by location - for example offering a fixed line number that enables callers to call the mobile at fixed network rates when it is in the home zone - Seeker Wireless offers a Sim Toolkit applet. "The applet in this release has been optimised to achieve a footprint as small as 6kB, enabling the option of over the air) deployment to existing SIM cards," it says.

All of this raises the interesting possibility of VHA, which unlike Telstra and Optus has not fixed line customers, ramping up competition by launching home zone services in Australia. There is certainly strong precedent for this: despite its early bad experiences Hutchison tried again relaunching home zone type services on its CDMA network in 2005   - just weeks before Telstra announced plans to close its CDMA network on which Hutchison relied for coverage outside major metropolitan areas. This left Hutchison with little choice but to shut down its CDMA network.