Nokia to provide free phones to 500 rural households

Five villages in Raebareli to have 100% mobility

PTI | July 30, 2010



Cellphone maker Nokia today said it would provide free phones, preloaded with information on agriculture, education and entertainment, to over 500 households in five villages of Uttar Pradesh.

Celebrating its 15 years in India, the Finland-based firm announced the project -- Ujjwal -- to drive 100 per cent household mobility in 5 villages in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.

Nokia said the initiative aims at driving inclusive growth and pushing socio-economic development in the region through mobile connectivity.

The cellphones being distributed will be preloaded with Nokia Ovi Life Tools, a service that provides information on a range of issues related to Agriculture, Education and Entertainment. It also provides up-to-date price information on agricultural produce so that farmers can benefit from it.

"We believe that Nokia Ovi Life Tools is a transformational tool -it has the ability to impact communities in emerging markets such as ours. Through this initiative we aim to demonstrate how mobile intervention can drive inclusive growth," Nokia India Managing Director D Shivakumar told reporters here.

He said through Ovi services, rural consumers will be able to access information related to weather forecasts, crop advisory services like information on probable diseases, weather-based disruptions and tips for successful harvests.

Ovi is available on five Nokia models and in 11 languages -- Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya and English.

The company has tied up with Datamation Foundation, a dedicated NGO working in the area, to implement the initiative in the selected villages.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Railways imposed ₹5.13 crore fine for food quality and hygiene violations

Indian Railways serve about 58 crore meals every year on an average. About only 0.0008% food quality related complaints are received on average. Based on complaints during the last three years, appropriate penal actions have been taken by IRCTC. Such actions include imposition of fines amounting to ₹5.13

STHAVAR: Why every Indian built asset needs a permanent digital identity

India has built digital systems for identity, payments, taxation, documents, logistics and public services. State governments, ministries, infrastructure agencies and urban local bodies have also created portals for land records, building permissions, project monitoring, property taxation and municipal s

Saksham Skill census identifies 22,000 job-ready candidates in one Mumbai ward

A first-of-its-kind AI-enabled skill census conducted in Mumbai`s H-West Ward has identified a potential livelihood pipeline of nearly 22,000 candidates, generated over 32,000 provisional job matches while revealing that 71.2 per cent of surveyed homemakers are willing to join the workforce, according to

GI tags: Scaling traditional wealth into global brands

Geographical Indication (GI) tags have emerged as a powerful tool for protecting India`s cultural heritage, while creating economic opportunities for local communities. By linking products to their place of origin, GI tags preserve traditional knowledge, prevent misuse, and enhance consumer trust. They h

BMC: 207 officials in ACB net, 112 still on duty, 68 retire before justice catches up

There are significant delays in the handling of corruption cases involving officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), a Right to Information (RTI) response obtained by rights activist Jeetendra Ghadge has revealed. As of 30 April 2026, 207 BMC officials face Anti-Corruption Bureau (A

The transformation trap: Why efficiency is not innovation

Every company is transforming, or so it claims.   There was a time when the word ‘transformation’ carried weight. It signified bold strategic shifts, reinvention of business models, and breakthrough technologies that fundamentally changed how organizations created

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter