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Asia
India Internet Usage
Report -
November 27, 2006
NOVEMBER 27, 2006
New survey gives 37,000,000 Internet users
as estimate for Internet usage in India.
Internet users in India reached 37 million in the month
of September 2006. During the same period the number of active users rose to
25 million, according to recently released survey reports from the Internet
and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI-IMRB).
The future estimated projection of Internet users is the following:
Sept 2006: 37m ever users and 25m active users
March 2007: 42m ever users and 28m active users
March 2008: 54m ever users and 43m active users
"Active user" is defined as someone who has used the Iternet at least once
in the last 30 days, while "ever user" is someone who has used the Internet
at least once.
The number of users accessing the Internet primarily for entertainment was
around 9 percent. The report further showed that online transactions (e-commerce)
were steadily gathering steam. The Young Men, Older Men and Working Women
segments were the ones using it the most. These segments, along with the Non
Working Women segment, were also using applications like jobs and dating sites
in significant numbers.
Other survey findings were:
- Time spent on the Internet increases with the increasing age of the user.
- School going kids spend an average of 322 minutes a week online.
- College-going students spend an average of 433 minutes a week.
- Older men spend an average of 580 minutes a week.
- Working women spend an average of 535 minutes online a week.
- Non-working women spend 334 minutes a week.
Amongh the study findings is that the Internet has now penetrated beyond the
communication needs of the active user population and was no longer an avenue
for exploring their curiosity. While email, chat and IM would continue to pull
first-time users, the next round of growth would be driven by applications such
as blogs, P2P, video-on-demand, online radio, online gaming and localized content.
The report estimated the number of school-going kids at 1.6 million and
college-going students at 3.4 million.
The Internet in India (I-Cube) 2006 report covered around 65,000 individuals
from 16,500 households, surveyed in 26 cities, with additional coverage of
10,000 businesses and 250 cybercafé owners, and is one the largest offline
surveys of Internet users in India. 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.
For further statistics and data regarding India, visit the
India Internet Report
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