Patent ID: 8554180

Claim:
A wireless network comprising: a first authentication network receiving a registration request from a mobile device and provisionally granting the mobile device access to a wireless network; and a second authentication network transmitting a challenge message to the mobile device to request information from the mobile device that characterizes an environment of the mobile device, receiving the information from the mobile device that characterizes the environment of the mobile device, and granting access to the wireless network; wherein the mobile device comprises: an operating system; a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card having protected and unprotected memory, the protected memory having stored thereon an authentication application; and an Application Programming Interface (AP1), wherein the authentication application comprises means for processing a challenge message from the second authentication network, means for communicating with the operating system, in response to the challenge message, through the API to retrieve information that characterizes the environment of the mobile device, and means for making available for the second network, the information characterizing the environment of the mobile device; wherein the information that characterizes the environment of the mobile device relates to a geographic location of the mobile device; and wherein the information that relates to the geographic location of the mobile device is a mobile country code.