Big Brother is watching your mobile phone

MOBILE NETWORK software vendor, Actix, has accidentally admitted that its products can drill down right to the bottom of collated data to discover what users are doing with their mobile phones.

The software has been designed specifically to optimise radio networks. But in order to establish exactly what caused a network fault, the software needs to known precisely what's being going on.

The INQ was astonished to discover that the level of detail extends beyond just knowing what make and model of handset was being used in a precise location. It can even reveal what content was being accessed at the time.

But although the vendor and other like it can watch your mobile handset, subscriber's name of and the number of the handset won't be known. An operator would have to match up information from its home location register (HLR) to do that.

Actix' products have proved remarkably successful so far with very little marketing. New CEO, Alex Hawker, claims that his company's software is already used by nine out of ten 3G network operators.
That includes those using CDMA2000 rather than W-CDMA/UMTS.

It can also potentially cover Wimax networks. That is, if a big operator rolls one out – what with Sprint changing its mind over doing so recently.

Hawker also claimed that Actix is amongst Europe's Top 30 most successful software houses. And it looks like he intends to make it much larger than that.

He hinted that the software could enable a traditional IT company – like IBM, enter the market for business automation in the cellular industry where the ones doing the network optimisation have always been traditional players like Ericsson.

Hawker has, of course, come from a very interesting background. He left Amdocs to join Actix, having previously done spells at HP, Cisco and Openwave. µ

L'INQ
Actix