Nokia in deal to boost mobile data in India

There was more activity in the Indian mobile market on Monday as local carrier Reliance Communications announced a partnership with handset giant Nokia designed to push mobile data services in the country.

The business partnership is three pronged and will see Nokia make services from its Ovi Life Tools portfolio available to the rural and semi-urban segments of Reliance customers; offers on Ovi Music Unlimited devices to drive mobile music adoption; and an exclusive offer on datacards and USB dongles with the purchase of Nokia music phones as well as special data packages for other Nokia GPRS phones.

Ovi Life Tools is a range of services covering agriculture, education and entertainment – such as market prices, agricultural tips, and the weather forecast – targeted at both urban and rural consumers, designed to address the information gaps in these areas. The services will be available on subscription and pay per use for either Rs30 per month for education and entertainment and Rs60 per month for agriculture, or Rs3 per request on pay per use.

Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ datacards are being sold at an exclusive price of Rs 1999 along with the purchase of a Nokia music device, allowing users to download millions of tracks for free, direct to their mobile phone or to their PC from the Ovi Music Store for 12 months. Reliance users can also pick up a mobile data bundle of 1.2GB on Nokia GPRS enabled handsets in a bid to help drive music and data services.

Vrajesh Shelat, head of wireless data services & alliances at Reliance Communications, said: “In the last two quarters, there has been a significant adoption of smartphones by Indian consumers. We have seen the sales of smartphones on our Network increase manifold. With the rollout of 3G, we see a huge opportunity in fostering a mutually beneficial business relationship to offer customers unique Voice, data as well as VAS innovations with Nokia.”