Launch of ‘SMS Carto’

Belgacom and Novasys announce the launch of ‘SMS Carto’, the new confirmation service including a geographic map on the mobile phone. 

BRUSSELS and LAUSANNE - 01 March, 2007

Belgacom, the Belgian leader of Telephonic Directory Assistance, owning the well known brands 1207 and 1307, and NOVASYS, the Swiss based leading provider of Geocentric Information Services for Internet and Mobile devices, announce the launch of a new service of confirmation in Belgium, including a geographic map via SMS WapPush, named ‘SMS Carto'.

All mobile users in Belgium (*) having a Wap configured mobile handset, can receive on their mobile phone a confirmation with a dynamic map of any queried address.

This new service, MapConfirmation or ‘SMS Carto', is the first SMS application using WAP Push in relation with Mapping. When the mobile users ask for an address or a phone number to the 1307 operator, MapConfirmation gives them the possibility to receive a map on their mobile handset. Maps are not only accurate; they are also dynamic and well readable at different zoom levels. This service is one of the very first mapping applications offered to the mobile users, available over this new channel.

NOVASYS has developed the MapConfirmation service on the basis of its geocentric platform Maponair®. The service supports almost any mobile handset available on the market. It allows delivering maps on the fly for each directory query, in just a few seconds. With the introduction of the confirmation service including the map, the call centre operators will not only supply the requested phone number and address, but also a map corresponding to the end-user's query. This will make the user's experience easier, allowing him to receive the exact location of his query, anytime, anywhere by a simple call to 1307. He doesn't need anymore to print a map in advance at home or in the office.

For Pascaline Dubois, Head of BELGACOM-DIS," ‘SMS Carto' is a remarkable example where technology allows us to make live easier. 1307 continues to introduce innovating solutions aimed at its mobile clients."

Ali Hussein, VP Sales & Marketing for NOVASYS comments, "...This new service allows the Directory Assistance services to enhance their offering aimed at clients in a mobility logic and with increased expectations. It is an innovation in the area of mobile services and a good example of new and easy to use services for the mobile community...."

(*) ‘SMS Carto' is already available for users of the Proximus and Mobistar networks. It is currently being tested at BASE.

About Belgacom

The Belgacom Group [Euronext Brussels: BELG] (Belgacom S.A. and its subsidiaries) is the first telecommunication company in Belgium and market leader in many sectors, namely for wholesale and retail fix line services, mobile communications and data transmission services in wide band and internet. For the fiscal year ending December 31, 2005, the group announced total revenues of 5,696 billion EUR and an EBITDA of 2,098 billion EUR, including non recurring elements.
The DIS division (Directory Information Services) of Belgacom, is mainly known for its directory assistance services 1207 (in Dutch)  and 1307 (in French). Together, these numbers have served around 42 million calls in 2006. DIS has more than 500 employees working in 10 call centres distributed in all of Belgium.

About NOVASYS

NOVASYS is a leading company in the area of geocentric services. It offers solutions in the areas of Location Based Services, mapping for Internet and mobile users as well as innovative services for Directory Assistance and Yellow Page companies. The company has its headquarters in Lausanne Switzerland and subsidiaries in Bern, Zurich and Paris.

For more information, please contact :

Novasys: Christian Hugonnet - CEO     +41 21 651 30 30  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
Belgacom: Haroun Fenaux -     +32 2 202 48 67   This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it