Nokia’s not dead, folks. It’s actually up to a lot of good

Remember Nokia? The company that gave us...

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and you be like...I'm ready for World War III!

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Their phones could survive anything. Literally, anything!

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Well, you know what, it’s changed!

Now it calls itself, “A global leader in the technologies that connect people and things. With state-of-the-art software, hardware and services for any type of network, Nokia is uniquely positioned to help communication service providers, governments, and large enterprises deliver on the promise of 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things.”

What! This can’t be real. I don’t care.

With the beautiful PR lady constantly reminding the ‘new Nokia’ and the ‘old Nokia’ are different, Business Insider sat down with Sandeep Girotra, VP and Region Head India at Nokia to hurl the most ‘phone’ey questions.

(Aside) Tell me you’ll bring a cheap and sturdy phone. Just like the good ole days. *Sob*

Any plans to enter the smartphone market?
If at all, it’ll be through the brand licensing route. Unless there is something disruptive, we’re not going in there.

Oh…there was news that Nokia is manufacturing its first flagship smartphone.
I repeat, if we enter the smartphone market, it’s got to be through the brand licensing route only.

No plans for an Android smartphone? Sure?
None I’m aware of.

Are you sad WhatsApp will roll back compatibility for Symbian S40 and S60?
I’m completely incompetent to answer that question. We’re very clear that we have very strong network orientation as a company.

Your CEO said the company will invest heavily on 5G. If you could elaborate.
We have the lead in 5G. It’s an enabler for Internet of Things, and we’ve displayed many great solutions at MWC 2016.

Does the word ‘India’ figure anywhere in your 5G plans?
India does figure in the 5G scheme of things. It actually plays a major role. We have it as a market and in terms of R&D. We have a part of the IoT Lab here in Bangalore.

Telcos are investing heavily on 4G. What have you done?
Our R&D facility in Bangalore is a part of the global integrated to the global ecosystem. We’ve filed a lot of patents from here. We also manufacture 4G equipment.

What have you done to tackle call drops?
We manage our networks to tight specifications. We’re mandated to align with certain key indicators. They’re tightened at a certain frequency.

We continue to do our best to use the limited spectrum to maximum capacity and pack in more capacity to ensure there’s no blockage and call drops.

We also help operators at sites where there is no coverage. That way call drops are reduced.

Any plans with Jio?
We continue to talk to all the operators in the country, and around the world. We talk to Airtel, Vodafone,Jio, idea, Tata, Aircel, and everyone in between.

Image Source: Indiatimes