Ericsson remains
the leading telecom equipment vendor in terms of number of contracts for
location platforms, ahead of Nokia Siemens Networks and TeleCommunication
Systems.

 

The
global market for location-based services (LBS) platforms and middleware will
see steady growth in the coming years, with demand primarily driven by
emergency call and lawful intercept mandates.

 

Annual
revenues for mobile location platforms, including A-GPS servers and middleware
platforms, are projected to grow from about € 150 million in 2010 to € 300
million in 2016.

 

Governments
and telecom regulators in many parts of the world are introducing stricter
emergency call and lawful intercept mandates that require network operators to
invest in location platforms. These mandates entail accurate location of any
handset deployed and therefore require installation of network-based location
technologies.

 

Network-based
location technologies also have superior indoor coverage and reliability.
Commercial LBS are not likely to have a similar impact on the market for
location platforms. Consumer LBS can rely on alternative location sources
including GPS in the handsets, Wi-Fi location and third party Cell-ID
databases.

 

“Location-based
services have gained mainstream acceptance, enabled by broader adoption of
GPS-enabled smartphones,” said André Malm, senior analyst, Berg Insight.

 

“All
leading handset vendors provide their own assistance services for GPS handsets
to ensure a good user experience in case the operator has not yet deployed A-GPS
services,” Malm added.

 

By
Telecomlead.com Team
[email protected]