The agreement will help expand the current scope of Telefonica Foundation's "Proniño" and "Educared" social programs - two of the most important private initiatives focused on using information and communications technologies in the improvement of the quality of education in the region - and complement Nokia's ongoing work to harness the power of mobile technology for social development.
During the annual Telefonica Leadership Conference, which is taking place this week in Miami, Telefonica COO Julio Linares, said: "This agreement fits our Spirit of Progress, which implies that we want to enhance people's lives as well as the progress of the communities where we operate, by delivering innovative services based on information and communications technologies. Wireless connectivity opens up strong opportunities of development and integration in Latin America".
Nokia's CEO, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, who was a guest speaker at the conference, said: "This partnership demonstrates the significant social benefits that mobile technology can deliver, reaching communities and children who previously had very limited educational opportunity in an inspiring and accessible way."
The first implementation of this agreement is planned for Chile, where Telefonica's mobile broadband and Nokia's advanced mobile software Nokia Education Delivery will enable isolated schools in Chile to have access to high quality educational content, including the most innovative resources, tools and services for students, fathers and teachers via Educared. The agreement will be later expanded to other countries in Latin America and will prioritize schools where Proniño works. Proniño and EducaRed will thereby be able to ameliorate educational quality through ICT application to learning processes in some of their rural schools without fixed broadband connectivity.