Reliance Communications, India's largest integrated telecom operator and Nokia India jointly announced a first-of-its-kind multi-faceted business alliance. The RCOM – Nokia alliance will aim to foster greater use of mobile services, giving consumers an opportunity to get richer experiences and do more with their phones.
The RCOM–Nokia partnership is structured on a one-of-its-kind blue-print to engage with the Indian consumes to offer an array of unmatched & innovative mobile, data and services offerings in India.
The business partnership with Nokia is in line with the multitude of innovations lined-up by the two companies to take mobility to the next level. The alliance covers –
Making available Ovi Life Tools services targeted at the rural and semi-urban segments for Reliance customers
Exclusive offers on Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) devices - including Nokia 5530, Nokia 5800, Nokia X6 16 GB, Nokia X6 8 GB and Nokia 5235 - for faster music downloads
An exclusive offer on Reliance Netconnect Broadband + USB Datacards on the purchase of Nokia OMU enabled phones. Special data packages for Nokia GPRS phones (other than OMU-enabled devices)
Commenting on its relationship with Nokia, Mr Vrajesh Shelat, Head – Wireless Data Services & Alliances, 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."
Mr V Ramnath, Director – Operator Channels, Nokia India said, "To take mobility to the next level, Nokia is moving beyond products to add services like Ovi Life Tools and Ovi Music Unlimited on its devices. These services have the potential to positively impact livelihoods at one hand and provide entertainment platforms to our consumers at the other. Our association with Reliance Communications is an important step in the direction of creating a strong ecosystem that will take these services to a larger consumer base."
Ovi Life Tools, a range of innovative and personalized services covering Agriculture, Education and Entertainment targeted at both urban and rural consumers will be an integral component of this RCOM & Nokia alliance. The two companies will jointly create an enabling environment to address the information gaps in rural & semi-urban India by making available Ovi Life Tools for Reliance users.
Reliance will offer Ovi Life Tools services in two versions, Subscription and Pay per Use. While the Subscription Service for education and entertainment services will be offered at Rs.30/Month and the agriculture service at Rs.60/Month. The Pay-per-Use will be priced at Rs.3/Request.
Mobile Music has become increasingly popular among the Indian consumers. According to some estimates close to 40% young people prefer to listen to music on their mobile phones. To make it easier for consumers, RCOM GSM customers can download music upto 12GB data usage (approximately 2400 songs) from Nokia's breakthrough music service – Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) using Nokia's OMU-enabled phones including Nokia 5530, Nokia 5800, Nokia X6 16 GB, Nokia X6 8 GB and Nokia 5235. Consumers can also purchase Reliance Netconnect Broadband+ Datacards at an exclusive price of Rs. 1999/- along with the purchase of Nokia OMU-enabled devices.
Ovi Music Unlimited comprises of over 40 lakh legal tracks from across 19 genres including Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Pop, Bollywood, Sufi, Indipop, Indian Classical, Devotional, Ghazals, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri,amongst others. Consumers who buy a Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited enabled device are able to download millions of tracks for free, direct to their mobile phone or to their PC from the Ovi Music Store for 12 months.
As part of this alliance, RCOM is also offering mobile data bundle of 1.2GB on Nokia GPRS enabled handsets (other than the OMU-enabled phones). In addition, RCOM is offering up to 1800 free on-net minutes bundled with Nokia 1800. These free voice minutes and mobile data bundles has a validity of six months.
Source: Reliance Communications