• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

BG Mahesh | mahesh.com

Internet in India

  • Home
  • Indian-Languages
  • Karnataka.com
  • Links
  • Gallery
  • About Mahesh
  • Contact Me
  • Show Search
Hide Search

India is all set to have 121 million internet users by December 2011

November 7, 2011 by BG Mahesh Leave a Comment

IAMAI’s annual report on Internet in India for 2011 says India will have 121 million internet users by Dec 2011. Some highlights from the press release,

  • Out of 121 million, 97 million would be active Internet users who access Internet at least once in a month.
  • Of the 121 million internet users, 92 million (76%) will be from the urban cities of the country and 29 million from rural areas (23%).
  • Of the 97 million active Internet users, 73 million (75%) will be from urban cities and the rest 24 million (25%) from rural villages.
  • Of the active internet users 48% (46.56 million) used internet at least 4-6 times a week and 28% (27 million)  used it daily.
  • Around one third of young men and working women are heavy internet users in India.
  • Most new users are light internet users (until they get addicted to Facebook??)

Urban-Rural Divide

  • Urban population: 302 million, 38% (115 million) of which know how to use a computer, of which 79% (90 million) use the internet at least once a month (active users).
  • Rural population (aged above 12 years): 603 million, 8% (48 million) of which know how to use a computer, of which 36% (17 million) use the internet at least once a month (active users).
  • More than 75% of the Internet usage is driven by youngsters that include young men (27%), school going kids (21%), college going kids (27%)
  • In the 30 urban cities wherein the survey was conducted, 89% use it to access emails, 71% use it for social networking activities, 64% access it to search education-related content, 55% use Internet for chatting purposes and 49% access videos, music and images.
  • The usage pattern differs among rural Internet users. Among the survey conducted in 7 states, 46% use Internet for accessing music,videos and images, 38% use it for email and communication activities, 29% access it for getting general information and 27% use Internet to access content related to education.

Internet Access Points in India

  • Cyber cafe plays an important role but home usage has grown to 37%.
  • Mobile internet  & cheaper packages from ISPs have helped the usage grow.
  • Urban India has 8.7 million broadband connections, 37.1 million users who utilize broadband.
  • Majority of internet connections in households are broadband connections (82% of 10.7 million connections)
  • Household users: 54% have 256Kbps, 34% have 256Kbps-1 Mbps, 12% have above 1 Mbps.
  • Majority of broadband connections are wired line connections (88%).

Some Definitions

  • Light users: Those who use less than 6.5 hours per week.
  • Medium users: Those who use 6.5 to 16.5 hours per week.
  • Heavy users: Those who use more than 16.5 hours per week.
  • Top 4 Metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkota
  • Other 4 Metros: Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune
  • Small Metros (> 1 million population): Patna, Cochin, Baroda, Lucknow, Ludhiana, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Indore, Surat, Nagpur, Vishakapatnam, Faridabad
  • Non-Metros (0.5 – 1 million population): Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Raipur, Chandigarh
  • Small Town (< 0.5 million population): Kolhapur, Bellary, Thrissur, Panipat, Gurgaon, Noida

For the first time I have come across figures that talk about users daily & weekly frequency of using the internet. If you look at the daily active user base, which is 27 million, it looks small and there is a good scope of this number growing.

How Can Internet Users Grow Further In India?

I come across many people who can ‘afford’ to buy a PC and get a good broadband connection but they don’t. They ask “What is there for me to get onto the internet?”. I guess Facebook is the answer for now but that cannot (and should not) be the real reason. Possibly having more language content will help to attract a larger section of the society.

What Is Missing In The Report

It would have been useful to get a detailed report about Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. I think the usage of internet in Tier-3 is yet to take off. IAMAI can help the internet community in a big way if they can periodically publish the detailed report covering the user base population, type of internet connections are used in each city. Yes, some of these are available from TRAI reports but they usually release state-wise data and not city-wise data.

 

Related

Filed Under: Internet Tagged With: iamai, internet penetration, statistics

Reader Interactions

Leave a ReplyCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Connect

  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Top Posts

  • About BG Mahesh
    About BG Mahesh
  • Food courts in India, the revenue numbers
    Food courts in India, the revenue numbers
  • WiMAX in India
    WiMAX in India
  • Is Indian Language on the net really pathetic?
    Is Indian Language on the net really pathetic?
  • How a simple idea could increase property tax collection in Bangalore
    How a simple idea could increase property tax collection in Bangalore

Recent Posts

  • From Entropy to Negentropy: The Transformative Power of Open Finance- Part I
  • Brand recall of the WiFi logo in India is very strong
  • Fixing the Visa application process with Consent Managers
  • How India can solve the Challenges in Digital Advertising starting in 2023
  • Digital Media needs an Online Dispute Resolution system

Categories

  • Government
  • Internet Portals
  • Mobile
  • Online Advertising
  • Internet
  • Media
  • Social Media
  • Broadband
  • Indian Languages
  • etc

Tags

3g acquisition android award bangalore books Broadband broadband penetration browsers comscore dailyhunt digital advertising in india digital india domain name election campaign election digital campaign elections facebook google hindi iamai imrb india online advertising indic fonts internet penetration kannada market size mobile advertising mobile apps mobile internet mobile marketing mobile penetration my column mysore nielsen Print Media sjce smartphones tier-2 tv advertising twitter ugc vijay next whatsapp yahoo

Copyright © 2025 · Mahesh.com

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT