After launching services in the agriculture, education and entertainment sectors, the next step for Nokia Life Tools is to explore the opportunities to reach a wider audience by offering services in poultry and fisheries.
BV Natesh, president, emerging markets services, Nokia India, talks to Chanpreet Khurana about NLT?s plans. Excerpts:
What exactly is Nokia Life Tools?
Nokia rolled out a pioneering emerging market service in areas of agriculture, education and entertainment for non-urban consumers, known as Nokia Life Tools (NLT). It was announced in India in November 2008, and in January 2009 the first live pilot for this service was rolled out in five districts of Maharashtra. The service has been available to consumers since June 2009. Consumers can choose various types of services/information that they wish to receive. These include local information on market prices and general weather outlook; English language, general knowledge tips and fun features.
What sets NLT apart from other services?
NLT is a unique service that aims to better inform targeted population segments in emerging markets and plug information gaps and needs of farmers via their mobile devices. The success of the NLT pilot was a result of the entire ecosystem of our agriculture, education and entertainment partners coming together. In fact, Reuters Market Light was one of the agriculture information content partners for NLT for select states providing accurate and regular information on weather, prices, news and tips.
What are the subscription costs?
NLT is commercially available in India with agriculture, education and entertainment services, available nationwide at the following plans:
Agriculture service has two plans? basic: daily weather updates and relevant agriculture-related news, advice and tips (Rs 30 per month) available across India; premium: closest market prices for three crops chosen by the subscriber, daily weather updates and relevant agriculture-related news, advice and tips (Rs 60 per month). Education has three services? learn English: basic, intermediate and advanced levels (Rs 30 per month each); exam preparation: tips and advice for ICSE, CBSE and state board exams (Rs 30 per month); and general knowledge (Rs 30 per month). Entertainment service includes astrology, news, jokes, cricket and ring tones at existing market prices and is available across India.
How does NLT collate and provide information?
Nokia has collaborated with multiple partners to deliver services to non-urban consumers in India. Our key partners include the Maharashtra State Agricultural (Marketing) Board to provide updated content on agricultural services specifically for Maharashtra; Idea to collaborate on NLT; OnMobile is our aggregator partner for entertainment services; Syngenta provides expertise in seeds and crop protection; Met Department provides weather updates and related information; and Pearson enables NLT to reach out to a larger audience with content for English learning and exam preparation.
How much did Nokia India invest in NLT?
We cannot share investment figures, but NLT has seen successful in India and we plan to take it to select countries in Asia and Africa.