Our Bureau

Bangalore, June 3

In a unique venture that will help tap the potential among the 2.2-million farmers associated with cooperative societies, Bharti Airtel on Tuesday announced the launch of its joint marketing campaign in association with Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (IFFCO) to popularise mobile telephone service in the rural areas of Karnataka.

Airtel has partnered with Nokia to come up with two handsets that would have the menu and SMS facilities in Kannada to promote the scheme. The Nokia monochrome 1200 model would be available at Rs 1,272, while the Nokia 1208 colour handset would be available at Rs 1,560.

The handsets would come along with a free Airtel mobile connection and recharge of Rs 295, lifetime validity and local calling rates at Re 1 a minute and STD charges at Rs 1.50 a minute, he said. Addressing a joint press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Venkatesh V., CEO, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Karnataka, and Mr Govindarajan, Head South India, said that IKSL will harness the power of telecommunication to add value to the farm sector.

The Kannada mobile service will also give free of cost vital information such as mandi prices, farming techniques, weather forecasts, dairy farming and fertiliser availability through the value added service platform. The strategic alliance will enable Airtel to install its cell sites in locations provided by IFFCO with its outlets serving as service facility for distributing SIM cards and recharge cards. Mr Govindarajan said with farmers being stakeholders in IFFCO, which has 2,500 societies in Karnataka, the Grameena Mobile Kranthi campaign will get a phenomenal boost in achieving telecom penetration in the rural areas.

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