The Business Standard (Nokia focuses on rural markets)
Sapna Agarwal / Pune July 16, 2007The rural markets account for around 5 per cent of the national GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) handset sales. The figure is expected to rise to 25-30 per cent, adding around 100 million new cellular subscribers by 2009, according to a recent study by LIRNEasia and AC Nielson.
The statistics are significant for vendors such as Nokia, LG and Motorola, who are engaged in major brand-building initiatives across villages through ‘touch-and-feel’ experiences. Under the initiatives, the handset firms will introduce low-priced entry-level handsets and make them available in mandis, haats and rural retail chains. Nokia, for instance, has already announced localisation measures, which include developing strong regional content capabilities. Besides, it is also launching a new range of Nokia 1200 series priced between Rs 1,600 and Rs 5,000. The range will sport features suh as FM radio, General Packet Radio Service or GPRS (to surf the internet), camera, shared phone books and cost-tracker – a new feature, which will tell the user how much talk time is available and the cost per call.A recent Nokia study revealed that mobile phones were means to overcome infrastructure hurdles. The report also noted that prospective rural subscribers were reasonably heavy users, making an average of 40 calls a month. “Mobiles have the potential to increase a family’s savings by reducing the rural consumers’ unnecessary travel expenses for procurement of raw materials. Besides, farmers are using the phone to get prevalent market rates for farm produce through voice and SMSes and even GPRS if available,” said Devender Kishore, director, marketing, Nokia.The survey further said, “With limited sources of getting news and entertainment coupled with hectic work schedules, mobile phones with features such as FM radio and GPRS, are a necessity in the rural areas.”
Following the survey, Nokia has announced a tie-up with Malayala Manoroma and launched a portal, where all the Nokia GPRS-enabled handsets users in Kerala will be able to get national and international news in their native language. “We are in the process of tying up with 10 other vernacular content providers in Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada in association with leading media houses across India,” said Devender Kishore.
2 Comments
Shahriar
……….This is really a nice initiative by NOKIA. Our research has also explored a big unserved market at the BOP. we are recommending on localised information services for the mobile subscribers who can act as change agents to solve problems at the robust pace.
zzainudeen
Is there any way we can see some of your research too?
Measuring AI exposure in the labour market
By Thisuri Rojie Ekanayake Worldwide, shocking news headlines about the impact of Artificial Intelligence or AI on jobs have been a plenty lately. Often, these articles attest that a large share of work is expected to be affected by AI, sparking concern of automation and mass layoffs at unprecedented rates.
LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya at the Launch of State of India’s Digital Economy Report
The ICRIER-PROSUS Center for Internet and Digital Economy (IPCIDE) had its annual conference in New Delhi on the 1st of June 2026 in New Delhi, India. LIRNEasia CEO Helani Galpaya participated in the opening panel and discussed the report.
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: South Korea Country Report
This report on data protection in South Korea is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. This report presents a focused case study of South Korea’s evolving data protection framework and its efforts to balance strong privacy protections with data-driven innovation
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific