1. Last year Nokia celebrated its 15th year operating in the country. Although in the first six years there were only 5 million subscribers, it’s now predicted that by 2013 the number will rise to almost 1 billion.
2. In 1998, the Nokia 5110 was manufactured with the first ever Indian ringtone, the song Saare Jahaan Se Acchha.
3. Nokia produced its first phone with a Hindi menu, a Nokia 3210, way back in 2000.
4. Nokia became the first global telecom company to set up a mobile phone production plant in India when it built the Chennai facility in January 2006. In five years, the workforce has grown from just 550 to over 8000 people.
5. Over 70% of the 8000 employees at the Chennai plant are women. They’re involved in running production lines as well as maintenance, assembly and testing operations.
6. Nokia has been voted India’s most powerful brand nine times and India’s most trusted brand for the last three years running.
7. Nokia devices are sold at an incredible 200 000 outlets across the sub continent.
8. Nokia set up operations in India in 1995 with roughly 450 people. Today, there are more than 15 000 employees in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. (They include some very well known Bollywood stars!)
9. There are over 5000 Nokia mobile recycling centres in India, and thanks to Nokia’s ‘Planet ke Rakhwaale’ initiative, more Indians than ever are recycling their phones.
10. According to research by Analysys Mason, last year Indians bought 151 million new phones. 52% of these were made by Nokia.
Any of these facts surprise you? If so, we’d love to hear which and why.