A new, location-based service has been launched by Tata Teleservices Ltd on Monday. Called the 'Quickfinder Assisted Global Positioning System' (A-GPS) service, it aims at facilitating for the CDMA subscribers the pin down of locations of interest, and the en-route tracking of vehicles and consignments.

The latest offering from Tata Teleservices is powered by Qualcomm's 'QPoint' solution and 'gpsOne' technology incorporated into its chipsets. The Navigator application of the service will provide end-users with driving instructions, and information about the shortest route to a preferred destination.

For the time being, the service, which is initially being launched in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur, can be accessed only on two handsets - the Rs 23,000-priced Blackberry 8830 World Edition, and the Rs 4,000-costing MotoRAZR V3.

Over and above the cost of the handset, the subscribers will have to shell out extra amounts - for buying a navigation device - costing Rs 2,000 to Rs 15,000 - as well as a monthly service charge of Rs 50.

At the launch of the new service, Tata Teleservices Managing Director, Anil Sardana, said: "Quickfinder will ride on the benefits of A-GPS technology and provide reliability and enhanced applications support to location-based services." He also said that the company intends investing almost $2 billion for launching its GSM based network in a few weeks.