India to have 213 million mobile Internet users by June: Iamai-IMRB report
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- January 14, 2015
New Delhi: With the increasing penetration of smartphones, the number of mobile Internet users in India is expected to reach 213 million by June 2015, a 23% jump over six months, according to the Mobile Internet in India 2014 report released on Tuesday.
There were 173 million mobile Internet users in India in December 2014. According to the report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (Iamai) and IMRB International (a market research firm), the number of mobile Internet users in rural India is set to grow at a rate of 33% from October 2014 to reach 49 million by March 2015 and 53 million by June 2015.
Urban India, however, will continue to account for a large percentage of mobile Internet users across the country and is expected to reach 143 million by March 2015 and 160 million by June 2015, according to the report.
The report reveals that for 74% of the mobile Internet users, the primary activity is to access email, followed by social networking, which is accessed by 61% of the mobile Internet users. Online chatting through instant messengers, watching videos, listening to music and navigation are some of the other activities common among users.
The report also stated that the average monthly mobile bill for users has increased by 13% to Rs.439. The proportion of this amount spent on mobile Internet was 45% last year and has increased to 54% this year.
The report finds that 63% of mobile Internet users spend between Rs.101 and Rs.500 monthly on their mobile connection, 26% spend between Rs.501 to Rs.1,000, and 7% spend less than Rs.100 every month.
More than half of the mobile Internet users spend between Rs.101 and Rs.500 every month in availing mobile Internet services.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, there were 935.4 million mobile connections in India as on 31 October 2014, up 0.55% from 930.2 million in September 2014.
The Iamai-IMRB survey was conducted across 35 cities with more than one million population, including the eight large metros and smaller cities such as Coimbatore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Visakhapatnam.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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