This contract, which was awarded through ST Electronic's subsidiary, ST Electronics (Info-Comm Systems), will mark the first deployment for the company's taxi management system in the UAE. It is also ST Electronics' first project in Sharjah, the third largest of the seven emirates which form the UAE.

Sharjah Transport, which is fully owned by the Government of Sharjah, sets policies for all public transport services in the emirate. Sharjah Transport owns the exclusive rights to regulate, control and franchise passenger transport services which include taxis, intra-emirate and inter-emirate mass transport within the UAE.

The Sharjah contract marks ST Electronics' first project in the emirate.

ST Electronics will work closely with Sharjah Transport to design, supply, implement and maintain an advanced taxi despatch and management system for its various taxi fleets. The system is based on ST Electronics' homegrown and patented award-winning Cetrac iCab automated taxi booking and despatch system, and will be delivered over a period of 15 months from July 2008.

Cetrac iCab integrates infocomm technologies such as wireless, automated booking and intelligent data mining to despatch available taxi to customers in the shortest possible time. The solution optimises taxi booking and despatch operations and improves productivity by offering various channels for the convenient booking of vehicles by customers, tracks the whereabouts of the vehicles and assigns jobs to the best suited vehicle.

"With the implementation of this new system, passengers in Sharjah will enjoy better customer service and shorter waiting time. Drivers will benefit from increased despatch efficiency and fleet owners will experience lower vehicle operating costs," said Mr Abdullah Mohd Al-Zari, Director General, Sharjah Transport. "We regard this development of great importance to Sharjah as it will elevate our status as an emirate that offers first-class public transport for our residents and visitors."

Describing it as a "landmark project", Mr Seah Moon Ming, President of ST Electronics, said he was delighted to have the opportunity to bring the company's telematics solutions for the first time to the UAE. "This project allows us to extend our world-class fleet management solutions to the Middle East," he said.

The key features of the system developed for Sharjah Transport include support for bureau service operations, management of updates for digital maps and locations, seamless integration with other booking channels, automated call-taking and monitoring, computer-aided despatch, automatic vehicle location, fleet management and reporting.

The system's powerful and versatile bureau service supports the sharing of
call centre or a single booking number by different fleets and companies; alternatively it also supports different booking numbers for individual companies. This feature is highly beneficial to Sharjah Transport, which will
be deploying this system to manage a number of taxi fleets owned by
various operators.

Mobile solutions provider MobiQuest (www.mobiquest.net) has announced a mobile bill presentment and payment solution that will enable businesses to send billing information directly to a customer's mobile phone through SMS.

The solution, mBill, is targeted at billing companies such as credit card issuing banks, service providers and other utility companies.

Electronic statements provide flexibility, immediacy and convenience for customers, said Mr Ashok Agrawal, Managing Director of MobiQuest. But as the competition increases, companies face new challenges such as rising customer expectations, more stringent security requirements and the high cost of offering personalised services. The mBill solution was developed to meet these demands, he said.

Mr Agrawal (left) and a colleague demonstrate the mBill solution to the Minister of Communications and the Arts Dr Lee Boon Yang at imbX 2008.

With the MobiQuest solution, the mBill client on the customer's mobile device will receive the billing SMS and encode the information into a barcode or mBill. The customer can then bring the mBill to any payment platform and have it scanned and validated before making payment.

Apart from the latest billing information, the mBill client will alert the customer regarding payment deadlines and also retain the last five payment records for the customer's reference.

According to MobiQuest, the service will enable businesses to strengthen their customer relationships by providing customers with timely information. Companies will also be able to lower the cost of sending billing reminders and provide ready reference to pending payments, thus receiving payment faster, said Mr Agrawal. It is also an environment-friendly solution as it helps to reduce paper usage.

In addition, businesses will also be able to leverage the capabilities of the system to provide promotional information to customers, said Mr Agrawal. Examples include the issuing of mVouchers for restaurants and fashion outlets and mTickets for events.

Besides the mobile bill presentment and payment solution, MobiQuest also offers a mobile unified instant messaging solution that unifies popular instant messaging networks such as MSN, Yahoo and Gmail Chat on the mobile phone. The MobiQuest Instant Messaging (MQIM) solution is available for the simplest mobile devices in today's market, as well as the more traditional high-end phones, said Mr Agrawal. "MQIM will create an experience on the mobile device that is similar to the best possible desktop experience, whereby all of the major lM networks such as AOL, Google, Jabber, ICQ, Microsoft and Yahoo! can be easily accessed by the mobile user."

MobiQuest also provides mobile application development services. The company's On Device Portal framework enables media companies and service providers to rapidly deploy and manage rich media mobile applications.

The framework combines mobile advertising with wide handset support and management capabilities. Generic applications include ODP Rich Media and ODP Information, which enable users to quickly access and preview content such as ringtones, games, and videos as well as information offline before making a purchase; and ODP Storefront which enables the service provider to customise and dynamically update their content offerings. Other services provided by MobiQuest include mobile application porting and localisation, and mobile application testing.

Singapore's Teliwave (www.teliwave.com) has introduced an integrated call back telephony service that provides users with three channels to access long distance calls – without having to use any headset or WiFi connection, without having to remember any PIN or contact number, and without incurring outgoing call costs. The three channels are Hoiio Mobile, Hoiio Web and
Hoiio Direct.

Hoiio was designed to minimise frustrations in making long distance calls or SMSes.

Hoiio (www.hoiio.com) is a callback service that automatically detects and converts an outgoing call into an incoming call. Hoiio Mobile users can make long distance calls and send text message across service boundaries directly from their contact list with the mobile software application that is installed on their phone. According to Teliwave, the application is supported by a majority of mobile phones.

If they have access to the Internet, users can opt to call or text via Hoiio Web by simply keying in the destination number. Users can also make use of an Address Book to store their contacts in Hoiio Web under the user's personal account, to enable calls and SMSes to be made from the Web. The third channel, Hoiio Direct, can be reached using the Hoiio access number, without any software or Internet access.

According to Teliwave, Hoiio was designed to minimise consumer frustrations involved in making long distance calls or SMSes. It offers users the flexibility to call from a mobile phone (Hoiio Mobile), the Web (Hoiio Web) or via a Hoiio access number (Hoiio Direct).

"Consumer needs and experiences are our priority," said Teliwave's Chief Executive Officer Mr Ong Kok Choong. "Hoiio is the first solution in the market that gives a seamless experience to make cheap long distance calls."

Users are also able to decide on the call settings with the Hoiio personalisation tool. For example, they can choose to use Hoiio for international calls and the main operator for domestic calls.

Apart from offering cheaper rates, Hoiio technology also allows for the conversion of outgoing calls into free incoming calls, translating to an overall cost savings for the user, said Teliwave.