Seeker Wireless powers innovative new Local Zone product from Vodafone New Zeala

Seeker Wireless, one of the leading location based service technology companies announced today that its SeekerZone™ solution has been deployed to power the new Local Zone product launched this week by Vodafone New Zealand. Created expressly to support fixed mobile substitution strategies, SeekerZone™ allows operators such as Vodafone to motivate subscribers to continue using their mobile phones instead of a fixed line by setting innovative tariffs for subscribers around their “local zone”.

Unlike HomeZone solutions currently deployed in Europe, the Seeker solution

provides much smaller home zones, meaning mobile operators can reduce the revenue leakage caused when subscribers attempt calls some distance from their actual home. Results from recent operator trials and live deployments have shown that by locating mobiles more accurately, Seeker is able to greatly reduce the size of home zones by up to 45 times compared to existing Cell-ID based home zone systems. Seeker’s technology has an accuracy rating of several hundred metres for built up urban areas and the use of smaller zones by Vodafone New Zealand and other mobile operators means that affordable home calling is now available on a standard mobile phone.

Seeker’s unique technology does not require operators to invest in new handsets or add-ons such as GPS. It can be deployed quickly as the solution is pre-loaded onto the SIM card and does not rely on the design and manufacture of new chipsets or devices, and works on both 2G and 3G networks. “Operators have been impressed with how Seeker’s technology performed against existing Cell-ID based systems” said Dr Chris Drane, CEO of Seeker Wireless. “By locating callers much more accurately, Seeker’s solution can help reduce revenue leakage impacts that have dogged current Cell-ID based home zone systems. We are delighted that Vodafone New Zealand has chosen our solution to power their new Local Zone product.

The value of Seeker’s technology extends beyond home zone solutions. It can be deployed to drive revenues from other location-sensitive services such as location based advertising and mobile search. Dr Drane concluded: “Location based technology is much more than just navigation and tracking. We believe that high accuracy location solutions should be an enabler to drive LBS revenues for operators from a number of different services that deliver tangible benefits to subscribers. Consumers do not really care about the convergence of technologies, what they really want is services that provide genuine convenience and value for money.