JEDDAH, 29 June 2005 — In the continuing battle to be first, both the Kingdom’s mobile telephone service providers have launched subscriber locating services. Mobily this week launched “Where Am I?” while “Al-Khalaya” service, offered by Al-Jawal, remains in the testing phase.

“Where Am I?” allows any Mobily customer to find out the location of any Mobily phone in the Kingdom. Subscribers can use the service by sending an SMS with the text FIND followed by a space and the number of the phone to be located to 2525. Within a few minutes, a message with the number of the person requesting permission to get the location is sent to the targeted number. The targeted subscriber must reply with the text YES or NO within 10 minutes. If the answer is NO, then the message “Phone +9665642***** does not allow positioning,” is sent back to the requester. If the answer is YES, however, the phone’s location is revealed.

For those wanting to know where they are, a message to 2525 with FIND, a space, and their own number reveals the location with an incoming SMS message.

Arab News tried this with two Mobily chips located in the same room less than 200 meters from Madinah Road, near where Al-Rawda and Al-Faisaliya districts meet. The actual phone’s location was in Al-Rawda. When FIND 056423***3 was sent to 2525 and permission was granted, the following message was received within a few minutes: “Location of friend 96656423***3 is: Al-Madinah Road, Al-Faisaliya, Jeddah (June 28 - 04:55:46, Distance: 1 km).”

Many Al-Jawal customers woke on Monday morning to find their mobile screens displaying the name of the district they were in. They had just experienced Al-Jawal’s, “Al-Khalaya” service which is far less complex than Mobily’s service.

“It’s a new service that is basically an aid to travelers. For those who are in a city they’re unfamiliar with, knowing the district they are in can help them in finding their way around. This service is still in the testing and development stage, but when it is officially launched, more information will be available and services will be expanded,” said a Saudi Telecom customer service representative.

Some subscribers Arab News spoke to expressed concern that their whereabouts could be monitored without their permission as their location is continuously being transmitted to their phone. A representative at Saudi Telecom’s technical department said: “What is happening is that each antenna tower is transmitting its location to the network-specific phones which are in its range. As you move around the city, the different towers pick up your phone’s signal. They then automatically send you their location. What you are seeing is the signal from the towers you are connected to, identifying themselves to your phone.”

Al-Jawal subscribers found that as they moved from district to district, the Saudi Telecom network kept up with them. Many customers were surprised upon discovering the new service and telephoned 902 to ask about it. Hold times for customer service were in excess of 15 minutes as Saudi Telecom’s lines were jammed with callers asking, “Why is my phone telling me where I am?”

One man called 902 to ask where his driver was. “I thought they could tell me, but they said they couldn’t. Now that would have really been a service,” he told Arab News. When told about Mobily’s “Where Am I?” service, he said: “This just might make me switch to Mobily.”

When Arab News tested both networks’ locating services from the same building in Al-Rawda district, Al-Jawal got the location correct, but Mobily listed the district as Al-Faisaliya. The Al-Faisaliya district was less than 150 meters away from the phone’s actual location, thus revealing that Al-Jawal’s network was more accurate.

Currently, the number of antenna towers Kingdomwide operated by Mobily, is fewer than those operated by Al-Jawal, giving Saudi Telecom the advantage in more accurately pinpointing a location. However, as Mobily continues with its network expansion plans, it expects to soon be as accurate as STC.

A representative at 902, Al-Jawal’s customer service number, said: “Our locator service is currently in its test phase. When it becomes fully active, we anticipate offering more services to rival Mobily’s.”