Indian mobile internet users is expected to reach 478 million by June 2018, according to a report titled Mobile Internet in India 2017 published jointly by the Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] and KANTAR-IMRB.
The reports estimate around 291 million Urban mobile internet users and 187 million Rural mobile internet users as of December 2017. The number of mobile internet users increased by 17.22% from December 2016. As of December 2017, it reached 456 million users. Urban India witnessed an estimated 18.64% YoY rise, while Rural India witnessed an estimated growth of 15.03% during the same period.
However, urban India is expected to show a slowdown with 59 penetration, while Rural India with only 18% mobile internet penetration is clearly the next area of growth. Report further states that youngsters below 25 years top the internet users list in India with 46% of Urban users and 57% of Rural. On the other hand, the age range of 25 to 44 has an almost equal distribution of users in Urban and Rural Areas.
The use cases of youngsters is fairly limited to social networking and browsing; while old men stick to audio/video streaming. While working women also indulge in social networking and browsing, while non-working women have the highest propensity for text chatting. Affordability of internet services has been the primary factor for the growth.
With VOIP and video chatting, expenditure on Voice has been steadily decreasing from 2013, and it has gone down drastically in recent times. This is also hinting that there is a rise in the proportion of Data in comparison to Voice expenditures for most users. The NTP 2018 with focus on new technologies like 5G and is expected to promote better quality data services at more affordable prices and it will also help in promoting internet penetration in the rural areas via mobile internet.