The number of mobile Internet users in India is expected to grow 21% to reach 371 million by June 2016 from 306 million in December 2015, according to a latest report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research firm IMRB International.
The report revealed that of the 306 million internet users, 219 million users are from Urban India, which registered a Y-o-Y growth of 71%, while the user-base in Rural India has increased by 93% from December 2014, to reach 87 million in December 2015. Moving on, the share of mobile Internet spending out of the average monthly bill for mobile phones has increased to 64% in 2015 as compared to 54% in 2014. On the other hand, the overall average monthly bill came down by 18% to Rs.360 in 2015 as compared to last year.
80 percent people in urban India used mobile Internet mainly for online communication 74% for social networking, 30% for entertainment, 13% for online shopping and 11% for online ticketing. The penetration of mobile Internet in India stood at 23% as on December 2015 with standalone urban penetration growing to 53% up from 29% in 2014. In comparison, 52% of users in rural India accessed internet for entertainment, 39 per cent for social network, 37 per cent communication, one per cent for online shopping and 0.4 percent for online ticketing. Earlier this week, India surpassed US to become the second largest smartphone market in the world. Moreover, the country is now manufacturing 100 million mobile phone units