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Asia Internet Stats > Site Links > India

India Internet Usage Stats and Telecommunications Market Report

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Internet Usage and Population Statistics:

YEAR	Users	Population	% Pen.	Usage Source
1998	1,400,000	1,094,870,677	0.1 %	ITU
1999	2,800,000	1,094,870,677	0.3 %	ITU
2000	5,500,000	1,094,870,677	0.5 %	ITU
2001	7,000,000	1,094,870,677	0.7 %	ITU
2002	16,500,000	1,094,870,677	1.6 %	ITU
2003	22,500,000	1,094,870,677	2.1 %	ITU
2004	39,200,000	1,094,870,677	3.6 %	C.I. Almanac
2005	50,600,000	1,112,225,812	4.5 %	C.I. Almanac
2006	40,000,000	1,112,225,812	3.6 %	IAMAI
2007	42,000,000	1,129,667,528	3.7 %	IWS

Gross National Income:
GNI per capita is US$ 1,140 ('04) according to World Bank.

India Broadband Subscribers:
188,600 broadband subscribers as of 1Q/2004 per WMRC.

India Search Engines and Directories:

India Search Engines Directory
Indian Search Engines and Directories.



India Profile and Briefings:

BBC India Profile
An up to date summary about India.

The Economist India Briefing
Penetrating news articles on India.

India Factbook
India information from the CIA World Factbook.

India Special Economic Zones
The Special Economic Zones were introduced in 2000
in India for setting up internationally competitive and
hassle free manufacturing of goods and rendering of
services for exports.


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India Internet and Telecommunications Reports

India - Key Statistics and Telecommunications Market Report
India continues to be one of the fastest growing major telecom markets in the world. Sweeping reforms introduced by successive Indian governments over the last decade have dramatically changed the nature of telecommunications in the country. The mobile sector has grown more than tenfold from 2001 to around 60 million subscribers by mid-2005. Whilst GSM technology still dominates, CDMA has quickly grabbed 23% of this market. The mobile industry should continue to boom. Fixed-lines, although not as spectacular as mobiles, is growing solidly. This report presents the key measures of this dynamic market and takes a general look at the development and direction of the market. See report summary


India - Internet and E-Services Market Report
Despite the considerable popular interest in Internet in India, the ISP market has been in disarray. According to the telecom regulator, there were around 180 operational ISPs in the country, after a period of market rationalisation. Despite the large number of providers, 10% of the ISPs have 90% of the subscribers. The state-owned – BSNL and MTNL – have grown rapidly to hold first and second place in terms of subscribers. The growing popularity of cybercafes has been playing a big role in fuelling Internet development in India. This report looks at the ISPs and other aspects of India’s Internet market. There is also some information on Internet content and e-services. See report summary


India - Broadband and Data Services Report
India appears to have embraced the Internet with a degree of ambivalence. There is tremendous enthusiasm amongst the dial-up users and an estimated 60% of users regularly access the Internet via the country’s more than 10,000 cybercafes. But when it comes to high-speed broadband access, there is reluctance, especially within the corporate sector, and the take-up rate has been slow. By early 2005 there were about 700,000 broadband subscribers – a penetration of less 0.1%. This report looks at the stage the development of broadband Internet has reached in India. Some information is also provided on data services available in the country. See report summary.


India Internet usage surges

February 17, 2006 - Internet adoption continues to grow in India. According to the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) the low cost of broadband has helped increase Internet usage. E-commerce and high demand for .in domain registrations are also factors for the increase in online users. The ".in" domain registrations surpassed 150,000.

Broadband policy and other initiatives by the IT and Telecom Ministry encourage increased adoption. A monthly broadband subscription costs as little as 199 rupees (US $4.50). A second factor is the IT Telecom Ministry initiative to make computers available for purchase under 10,000 rupees (US $226). In addition to working with hardware manufacturers to remove the financial barrier for households in India, the organization continues to push development of language fonts to remove language and localization of content issues.

According to IAMAI, a trade association representing the online content and advertising, e-commerce and mobile content and advertising industry, Indians go online for a number of activities including e-mail and IM (98 percent); job search (51 percent); banking (32 percent); bill payment (18 percent); stock trading (15 percent); and matrimonial search (15 percent).

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More figures and updates on India Internet usage below.

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INDIA INTERNET MARKET BRIEFS

July 7, 2004 - Women lead rural India's internet rush. The internet is beginning to have a revolutionary effect on the 700 million people who live in villages in India - and the charge is being led by women. A project set up by one of India's leading technology institutes has put women in charge of forging the way across the digital divide as the proprietors of a fast-growing number of internet cafes or kiosks around the sub-continent. In total 80% of these new kiosks are run by women, many of whom have had very little or no acquaintance with technology before. See BBC News.

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February 16, 2006 - Broadband usage in India is growing 20% per month, according to the Internet Service Providers Association of India (ISPAI). Thanks to the progress in the past two years and especially, the Broadband Policy announced a year ago, the term “broadband” has entered mass lexicon and most Internet users are aware of faster speeds. See ISPAI Article.

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February 17, 2006 - An overview of Internet usage in India.

The state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) launched Internet Services in India in August 1995. For the first four years , VSNL was the sole provider of Internet Services in the Country. In November 1998, the Government ended VSNL’s monopoly and allowed provisioning of Internet Services by Private Operators. The Terms and Conditions of the ISP’s License were unusually liberal with no License Fee and allowed unlimited number of players. ISPs could set their own tariffs and even their own International Gateways. See complete article.

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November 15, 2006 - An Update Survey of Internet usage in India.

According to a release dated September 19, 2006, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, Internet users in India have reached 37 million in the month of September 2006, up from 33 million in March 2006. During the same period the number of "active users" has risen from 21.1 Million in March 2006 to 25 Million in September 2006. "Active User" is an internationally accepted and widely used category to define users who have used the internet at least one in the last 30 days.

The numbers are a result of the largest "offline" survey so far carried out in India to estimate the "ever user" and "active user" categories. The primary survey for the study was conducted in early 2006 amongst 16,500 households covering 65,000 individuals across 26 major metros and small towns in India, with additional coverage of 10,000 business and 250 cyber café owners. The survey did not include rural areas.

IWS considers that the number of Internet users in India is now 40,000,000 to give credit to the new first time users since the survey field work was performed till November 27, 2006.
See the complete IAMAI article.

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