Wireless carriers could deploy commercial location services in advance of the phase II enhanced 911 services deadlines mandated by the Federal Communications Commission.
Gary Ritter, wireless offer manager, location services, for Lucent Technologies Inc., said many commercial services could be deployed today because they don’t require the extremely accurate location fixes required by the second phase of the mandate. Ritter also said phase II E911 solutions could begin ramping up by the end of next year, well in advance of the FCC’s original October 2001 deadline for deploying such services.
“Many location applications can be put into place just using the switch and cell-sector information that is available today,” said Ritter, who noted carriers might deploy commercial services early and then migrate the services to a more granular level when more accurate location fixes become available. “I believe those services can be deployed with cell-sector information, particularly in urban areas where there are lots of cell sites.”
Commercial services, like location-based billing and information services, are candidates for early deployment in high-density areas, while E911 and emergency roadside assistance will have to wait for the highly accurate location fixes provided for in phase II. In fact, said Ritter, some commercial location services, like services that direct users to nearby stores or restaurants, would work better using only cell site and sector information because bringing the location in too close would exclude many or even all of the potential targets.
Lucent’s involvement in the wireless location arena includes an intelligent network solution to provide location services. Lucent also jumped into the location-finding arena in July when it announced it was working with Qualcomm Inc. to develop a global positioning system-based locating system.
Besides the standard commercial location offerings Lucent plans to offer with its IN solution, the company is aiming to offer a service that allows other applications that normally wouldn’t use location information to be enhanced with location functions. For example, said Ritter, carriers could offer virtual private networks enhanced with location to change the way customers are billed and what features they have access to as they move in and out of the boundaries of their corporate campus.
Another application, he said, is a phone for kids that could allow full functionality while at home but only allow calls to home, 911, and a selected group of friends when the child is away from home. Ritter said the company also envisions a prepaid location service that would notify customers when their balance drops below a certain threshold and then, based on their location, notify them of the closest airtime replenishment centers.
Late last year, Lucent agreed to integrate SignalSoft Corp.’s suite of wireless location services with its Wireless Intelligent Network platform to broaden the range of services available on the platform.
SignalSoft’s wireless location services include local.info, wireless 911 and location sensitive billing. Local.info is an information-based product that brings subscribers personal, local information to their wireless phone. Callers can be routed to the nearest business outlet based on the location of their call, or they can access real-time information from the Internet or call centers, said the company.
Lucent’s WIN platform includes services such as calling party pays, stand-alone home location register, over-the-air activation, short message service, wireless prepaid, voice-activated dialing, number portability and flexible alerting.
