Nokia’s 500 ‘Smartpur’ digital villages include Kanchipuram

In the first phase of the project, 20 villages will be digitally integrated in Haryana and Tamil Nadu in a “hub and spoke” model. Tain village in Nuh district of Haryana and Asoor in Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, will serve as hub which will host a digital centre with telecom connectivity to provide ICT-enabled, primary services. The spoke centres will further extend these services to nine other villages from each hub, Nokia said. In the second phase, the project will be scaled-up to up to another 80 villages across various states and subsequently, it will be extended to another 400 villages over a period of five years, it added.

“India is on the brink of a phenomenal digital journey which can only be successful if it is all inclusive,” said Ambassador of Finland to India Nina Vaskunlahti after inaugurating a pilot of the project in Tain village of Nuh district in Haryana. “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,” she added.

“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 a more inclusive growth,” said Sanjay Malik, head of India for Nokia.