The mobile telecommunications industry recently announced an exciting development: the integration of a WiFi hotspot within a standard GSM SIM card. The entire WiFi hotspot including the antenna has been integrated into the small 25x15x1mm SIM card. When inserted into a normal GSM phone, the SIM card uses the SIMtoolkit to access the data carriers (such as GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, etc.) available in the phone. Therefore, create a WiFi hotspot around the phone. In my experience, the range of such a setup would be limited (meters instead of a hundred meters), but this technology offers the potential to access the Internet from your WiFi-enabled netbook using a standard mobile phone.

This technology was originally conceived by Telenor, which at the time was investigating solutions to locate mobile phones with a high degree of resolution inside buildings. They used a WiFi access node embedded within a SIM card to report WiFi cells within range, thus determining the approximate position of the mobile phone. This, in my opinion, is an innovative solution to an old problem. Telefónica, in collaboration with SIM card provider Sagem Orga (Morpho), recently launched SIMfi as a commercial product.

The question that remains unanswered is, “is this technology for the sake of technologies?” Or is there a real business model underlying this technology? There are a number of potential applications, for example the effective use of the WiFi link to replace a cable (tethered connectivity) to allow laptops to access the Internet. For a precise location inside the building. However, for the creation of millions of WiFi hotspots on the move to provide a retroactive data network using the mobile network.

In my experience, mobile network operators try to move traffic from their cellular networks (such as EDGE or HSDPA) to fixed WiFi networks whenever possible. This is to alleviate the quality of service issues you are currently experiencing. Therefore, any Wi-Fi device embedded within a SIM card is most likely to be used as an access node and not as a HotStop. Aside from government mandate, there are few highly successful paid location apps.

2014 Update: It appears that integrating WiFi into an SD memory card has proven to be a much more popular option with consumers. WiFi or GPS supported location updating within a mobile device has become a very popular feature. Although many innovative location-aware apps have emerged, and many have been successful, mobile operators are still on the hunt for location-aware apps that represent a significant revenue stream.

(c) Andrew White 2014. Reproduction permitted without change and links remain intact. All rights reserved internationally.