The Hindu Business Line : Nokia seeks to tap rural market to spur growth

Apart from collaborating with MFIs, Nokia tries to reach into rural areas with ‘showrooms on wheels’ and ‘Rural care on the go’— marketing and servicing vehicles, respectively.

Mr D. Shivakumar

Our Bureau

Chennai, April 8 With the urban market for handsets fast getting saturated, Nokia plans to tap the growing rural market in collaboration with various micro finance institutions.

At a presentation made to the media here today, Nokia India’s Vice-President and Managing Director, Mr D. Shivakumar, said India has about 249 million subscribers and 93 million rural subscribers. These represent 81 per cent and 12 per cent penetration in the respective markets. (The national mobile penetration level is 31 per cent).

While the game in the urban markets is one of providing more paying services to the mobile subscriber, there is big scope for selling more handsets in the rural markets. It was noted that 812 million Indians live in the rural areas.

Nokia hopes to break into the rural markets by taking the help of micro finance institutions in the country. There are about 1,000-odd MFIs in the country.

Ties up with SKS Micro

For a start, Nokia has tied up with SKS Microfinance, which has 653 branches across 15 States.

Apart from collaborating with MFIs, Nokia tries to reach into rural areas with ‘showrooms on wheels’ and ‘Rural care on the go’— marketing and servicing vehicles, respectively.

Nokia officials and other speakers today noted that about 150 million customers would be added to the customer base in the next two years. A large number will come from rural India.

Mobile subscriber base is reaching a tipping point as the device is fast turning from a luxury item to a necessity.

Nokia Life Tools

Nokia will soon launch Nokia Life Tools, which it describes as “a range of agriculture, education and entertainment services designed especially for the consumers in small towns and rural areas of the emerging markets.”

Life Tools Agriculture services will provide information on seeds, fertilisers and market prices over mobile phones. Life Tools Education will teach, say, English language, help prepare for exams and offer career tips.

Aimed at providing timely and relevant information customised to the user’s location and personal preferences directly on their mobile devices, Nokia Life Tools is the first step towards bridging the digital divide, says Nokia’s Web site.

Nokia Life Tools has been piloted in India and the pan-India roll out is expected by June. The experience that Nokia gains here will help the Finnish telecom major to take the service to other parts of the world.

Related Stories:
Nokia’s rural odyssey
Nokia outlines initiatives targeting rural markets

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