MTN to use Garmap’s mobile satnav in South Africa

Earlier this month South African wireless operator MTN (over 15 million subscribers) partnered with Garmap, a provider of satellite navigation and mapping services in South Africa, to provide its off-board navigation solution, Garmap for Mobile Online, on BlackBerry smartphones.

At this stage the Garmap for Mobile application gets bundled into new and renewed 24 months Blackberry contracts. No additional data charge is levied for this service, as this is included in the Blackberry Internet Service subscription.

Garmap Mobile is based on WisePilot from Swedish provider Appello (watch here our video interview with Garmap and Appello). Garmap is the consumer brand from AVNIC, the exclusive distributor of Garmin in South Africa. After announcing its Nuvifone, Garmin ended up the development of its mobile navigation software which forced AVNIC to find another provider.

On the top of the usual functionalities found on an off-board navigation system, Garmap has weather information and a trip report feature. Another feature of the navigation package is access to a web portal which complements the functionality on the mobile device. The web portal allows for pre-planning of destinations that are automatically synchronized with the mobile device as well as management and printing of trip reports. Additionally, all location favorites stored on the mobile device can be viewed and managed on the web portal.