MalaysiaGIS.com

Source: New Straits Times

SIEMENS Mobile has launched a virtual location-based test environment in Malaysia that would help local mobile operators catch up with their Asian counterparts in terms of implementing location-based services (LBS).

Mobile operators in the region are either currently implementing the LBS or planning to do so next year, Siemens Information and Communications Mobile Group (Siemens Mobile) said in a statement yesterday.

The LBS can provide mobile phone users with specific traffic reports, alert them on the latest happening within the vicinity they are in and help them locate friends in crowded areas.

For mobile network operators and service providers, the LBS can help increase the adoption rates of mobile data services, build customer loyalty and raise revenues.

Siemens Mobile pointed out that Singapore's M1 network - which introduced the LBS, like proximity search and location information service in 2001 - had successfully attracted over one million subscribers and has gained a market share of 33 per cent by July 2002.

Siemens Mobile offers the complete range of mobile technology including mobile devices (for instance mobile phones and wireless modules), infrastructure (such as GSM, GPRS and 3G mobile network), application (like LBS and mobile payment) and associated services.