How Mobile Operators Can Leverage Wi-Fi for Their Location-based Services

by Kumar Thangamuthu, Principal Product Manager, Location

Wi-Fi has emerged as an extremely popular means of powering location-based services (LBS) since its accuracy is sufficient for most social networking and places-of-interest (POI) applications.

The incredible popularity of consumer Wi-Fi ($50 access points deployed in homes and businesses) creates a wealth of 802.11 reference points which can be leveraged for handset positioning, especially useful in urban and suburban commercial districts.

It's no surprise that users of the iPhone and other cellular/Wi-Fi dual-mode devices tend to be the largest consumers of LBS; Wi-Fi and A-GPS provide the most seamless coverage from rural to urban environments.

Thus far, many mobile operators have been content to sit on the sidelines while handset vendors deploy their own proprietary clients and databases of access point locations to power Wi-Fi location, (Apple uses Skyhook Wireless). Since the superior location capabilities are built into the handset with no extra cost to the subscriber or operator, it seems like a mutually beneficial arrangement, right?

Wrong.

With their own client software in place, the handset vendors have annexed one of the most valuable assets of a mobile operator: their subscribers' location data. Current and historical position data are a marketing goldmine - the "bread crumbs" of consumer behavior.

Fear not. Operators interested in challenging handset vendors to protect these assets can deploy their own Wi-Fi positioning capability using the following strategy:

1. Mobile operators already invest millions of dollars in benchmarking their CDMA or UMTS coverage by performing drive tests – literally driving street to street to monitor cellular quality in a given region.

With slight modifications to their test vehicles, operators could easily collect the essential data for Wi-Fi access points (MAC address, signal strength) and match them to GPS coordinates. Just like that, the operator would own a Wi-Fi position database.

2. The Open Mobile Alliance's SUPL 2.0 is an emerging standard that would require every client to make MAC addresses of Wi-Fi access points in use available to the operator.

Savvy operators will push handset suppliers to provide a roadmap to support of SUPL 2.0 Wi-Fi capability.

With a relatively straightforward way for operators to develop a standards-based alternative to the handset's proprietary Wi-Fi positioning clients, there is no reason for operators to stand idle and watch others capitalize on their valuable assets.