>The number of people browsing Internet on their mobiles in India increased by 7 million according to TRAI’s performance indicator report for the April-June quarter. The net-enabled mobile phones hit the 38 million mark. On the other hand, broadband Internet connections declined to 9.22 million in this quarter from 9.27 million in the previous quarter. A business newspaper claims that probably India is the only nation in the world, where broadband connections are falling.
I understand that accessing Internet over mobiles in India is not that pleasurable. With GPRS connections and not-so-very-good mobile handsets/applications, I personally did not like the experience. Even with all these drawbacks, we see a record rise in web surfing over mobiles. This heralds a shift in the primary medium in accessing the Internet. The primary reason being that over one fifth of India’s population today has a mobile phone. As I had emphasized in my earlier post Mobile Revolution that “the biggest beneficiaries and also the driving force behind the Mobile Internet will be the emerging markets.” Today, the number 38 million net-enabled mobiles is corroborating my statement. That means the number of people accessing net through PC (9.22 million) is one-fourth of the number accessing through mobiles.
What I see happening in the coming years is nothing but a mobile revolution. Mobiles will be all powerful devices, just like your PCs but on the move. Hopefully, the Indian government makes way for 3G/3.5G technologies soon. This will further increase the penetration by pulling in people who need high-data access. I know that a number of startups are already planning to enter the lucrative mobile applications market, which in my opinion is the future. We would see everything going mobile, right from your credit cards to social networks.
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