SingTel Mobile customers can soon keep an eye on their children at home by using handheld devices or Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) via their mobile phones wherever they are.
This is made possible today with the launch of SingTel Mobile's General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network with a S$35 million investment.
GPRS is a new GSM technology that allows broadband multimedia data to be transmitted over mobile phone networks at speeds of up to 115 kbps.
Video streaming and video clips can be viewed on devices such as Palm Pilots or Pocket PCs that support video applications.
Mobile phone users on the move are able to surf the Internet with these devices connected to their mobile phones usually via infrared.
SingTel Mobile's system can differentiate the capabilities of different devices used by its customers, such as the number of pixels or resolution of the display screen. It then 're-purposes' the HTML content meant for PCs in a suitable presentation format for the individual handheld devices.
Lucas Chow, CEO of SingTel Mobile, claims Wireless Internet to be the next wave in Singapore's mobile phone market. There are three things now which are in vogue - mobile phones, the Internet and PDAs. However, despite the convergence of IT and communications devices, they still function very much on their own.
"Although GPRS phones are expected to be widely available only next year, SingTel Mobile has already invested in GPRS so that we can start testing new GPRS services on our network," said Chow.
GPRS phones are connected to the Internet in an 'always-on' mode and users need not dial a separate data number when they access data services. In addition, they are charged only when data is transmitted and not for the length of time they stay connected, which is the common charging principle today.
Chow estimates the PDA penetration rate in Singapore today to be about five percent and he expects PDAs to gain rapid popularity.
Wireless Access Protocol or WAP still has a very important role to play. It allows those without handheld devices to enjoy Wireless Internet and information-on-demand with SingTel Mobile's e-ideas, minus the rich graphics, Chow said. SingTel Mobile's e-ideas is a suite of mobile e-commerce services that allows customers to perform wireless transactions, such as booking movie tickets, using their WAP phones.
To date, SingTel Mobile has signed about 20 GPRS agreements with its roaming partners, such as Chung Hwa Telecom of Taiwan, KPN Orange of Belgium, MTN of South Africa, Pacific Century CyberWorks Mobility Services of Hongkong, Tele Danmark of Denmark, Telefonica Moviles of Spain and Telia Mobile of Sweden.
