Nokia, Tata Docomo tie up for new rural service

Nokia India has tied up with Tata Docomo, the GSM brand of Tata Teleservices, to offer its value-added service Nokia Ovi Life Tools to a larger base of consumers in rural and semi-urban India, the two companies announced today.

According to a Nokia release, Ovi Life Tools are specifically created for the emerging markets to plug information gaps in the areas of agriculture, education and entertainment.

Under the memorandum of understanding between the two companies, Nokia and Tata Docomo will collaborate to offer Nokia Ovi Life Tools services to all Tata Docomo subscribers.

The partners will work together to deliver news alerts in the fields of agriculture and education schemes and other relevant information directly to users of this service.

Tata Docomo has launched services across 17 circles and soon will be a pan India operator. Tata Docomo customers can get access to Nokia Life Tool service via SMS, USSD, GPRS and STK, for which the SMS can be accessed through a short code '55555' designated by Nokia.

"We are confident that the agreement will strengthen the network and help the rural and semi-urban community by providing relevant and accurate decision critical information to subscribers. For this service to scale and benefit larger section of users, it is important to have partners like Tata Docomo who share Nokia's vision of empowering people with the right tools," said V Ramnath, director, operator accounts, Nokia India.