Nokia to develop 500 smart villages connecting citizens of India

Finnish mobile company Nokia has announced a new project called ‘Smartpur’ which aims to develop 500 “digitally integrated and sustainable villages” in India within the next five.

The smart villages will undergo technology developments in the areas of health, education, livelihood, governance and finance. This will form part of the government’s ‘Digital India’ programme.

So far, a pilot project – partnered with the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) – has been rolled out across the regions of Haryana and Tamil Nadu, developing 10 smart villages in each state. The pilot project in Tain village, Mewat district, Haryana, was inaugurated on Thursday by Nina Vaskunlahti, the Ambassador for Finland. 

See also:

Technology underpins a new wave of CSR in India

Nokia opens up Cloud Collaboration Hub in Singapore

Indian e-learning startup Toppr Technologies raises $2.3mn funding from Alteria Capital

Vaskunlahti stated: “India is on the brink of a phenomenal digital journey which can only be successful if it is all inclusive. Smartpur project is a significant step in that direction which will integrate these villages and rural communities, providing digital tools and internet connectivity for social and economic impact that truly makes a village smart and fosters a digitally inclusive society.”

Nokia’s overall aim with the project is to use digital to create more efficiency in daily life, economic prosperity for households and ease of access to government services and information for the people of India.

Nokia’s India market head, Sanjay Malik, said: “At Nokia, we believe connecting the unconnected opens up opportunities in many areas and has tremendous potential to enable socio-economic empowerment of individuals as well as communities. Globally, Nokia works with governments, NGOs, our customers and vendors to drive access for all. The Smartpur initiative is our contribution to delivering the benefits of broadband infrastructure and services to the ‘telecom-dark’ areas and support the government’s vision of Digital India for more inclusive growth.”