Lost in (cyber)space: Mobile users have no idea where they are

Location detection is meant to be one of the killer applications for future mobile services, but procrastination by US operators means it may have to wait a little longer for a proving ground.

Verizon Wireless has recently joined a group of US wireless operators in appealing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a postponement of the deadline to implement a location-based emergency service.

The service is meant to allow US operators to locate anyone who makes an emergency call on a mobile by dialling 911, the US equivalent of 999, to within 50m to 100m.

US operators were meant to implement the service by 1 October this year, but as the deadline approached, a growing band of operators have been complaining that they cannot meet the deadline.

Verizon joined Cingular Wireless, Nextel Communications and a growing band of other operators requesting delays from the US communications regulator. The FCC has yet to rule.

The deadline was originally set for 1999, but it was extended by two years when none of the carriers managed to meet it. The vast majority of police services were also unable to get services in place in time.

European operators have been running successful mobile location trials in Europe since the middle of last year, but implementing even the simplest systems may well prove more complicated than many forecasters had thought.

Simple systems which identify which cell users are calling from have been demonstrated in Europe, and simple commercial apps have started to appear, but nothing so complicated as the US system has yet hit the market.

In a year which has seen a succession of telecoms projects, from GPRS to 3G, failing to meet unrealistic deadlines, location based services may also take longer than expected to roll out.