[Nokia and Finland's Radiolinja successfuly demonstrate Service Area Identity (SAI) positioning technology used in WCDMA networks to determine the physical location of a user. ]

Nokia and Radiolinja, the Finnish mobile operator, have successfully demonstrated Service Area Identity (SAI) positioning technology as part of the Nokia mPosition solution. The field trials were carried out using Radiolinja's "pre commercial" WCDMA network and achieved good results in accurately determining a user's position within the range of a single network cell.

The field trials were carried out in a combined urban and suburban area in Tampere, Finland. Most tests were carried out in a moving vehicle.

"The field trial of 3G location-based services now realized is a natural continuation of the co-operation Radiolinja has done with Nokia," says Ari Asikainen, Chief Executive Office, Radiolinja Origo Oy. "The experience we have gained now helps us to smoothly move the 2G location-based services to the 3G network, so that end-users don't perceive any difference in service."

"Nokia, in good cooperation with Radiolinja has demonstrated its WCDMA location capabilities," says Heikki Hemmi, General Manager, Location Business Program, Nokia Networks. "This is an important step in showing the smooth evolution path of location services from 2G to 3G in practice."

Service Area Identity is an advanced position technology used in WCDMA networks to determine the physical location of a mobile subscriber, thus enabling location-relevant services which are one of the key elements in the Mobile Internet. Deployment of SAI positioning can be made with minimum additional network investment because the GSM and WCDMA network architectures can use the same positioning calculation and Gateway Mobile Location servers. There is virtually no cost burden for terminals either, since SAI does not require any support from terminals.

Nokia is a leader in positioning technologies. The Nokia mPosition SAI solution demonstrated in these field trials has a smooth evolution path towards the 3GPP standard based CI+RTT and A-GPS (Assisted Global Positioning System) enhanced positioning technologies also used in WCDMA networks.

Radiolinja is a pioneer in location-based services in Europe as well as in Finland. Standardization and R&D work of location-based services are an important part of Radiolinja's activities. The first commercial services were launched during the spring 2002.

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