12 FE SPECIAL: India’s mobile & Internet landscape
c o m Friday, August 13, 2010
A WIDER NET
The Internet has to spread its wings to encompass the masses in India and enhance availability,
accessibility and affordability for a start, says a JuxtConsult study on the ‘Indian Online Landscape 2010’
Ivinder Gill
D
EEPER, NOT
wider, that’s the
story of the In-
ter net in India.
Existing users are
accessing the net more, but
not enough new members are
signing up.
A study by online research
firm JuxtConsult puts the In-
dian online landscape in per-
spective. A survey of over 2.5
lakh people in 100 cities and over
1,000 villages in April-May this
year on ‘online Indians and their
net usage behavior and prefer-
ences’ reflects that Internet has
permeated only 10% Indian
households and only 4.4% Indi-
ans, as two-third households
have multiple users. The in-
crease in number of users has
been only 8% over the past year,
Too good to ring true
Overselling is making the mobile space highly crowded in India, with the high tele-density hiding the real
picture—that of millions of inactive connections, reveals a JuxtConsult survey, ‘India Mobile 2010’
Ivinder Gill
T
HAT MOBILE use in In-
dia is on a high growth
curve is given, but how
‘real’ is mobile growth in
India? Not very, if one
were to consider that despite an
overall 61% household-level pene-
tration, only 26% Indians are active
users. These figures, thrown up in
a survey undertaken by online re-
search firm JuxtConsult in April and
May this year, profiling ‘mobile
phone users in India and their mo-
bile usage behaviour and prefer-
ences’, tell the story of a high-stake
game. ‘Overbuying’ by consumers
or overselling by the mobile in-
dustry has resulted in “too many
connections from too many opera-
tors chasing too few customers in
too short a time period”. The sur-
vey covered over 2.5 lakh people in
100 cities and over 1,000 villages,
Against an exponential growth
in mobile subscription numbers
every year (TRAI’s latest figures peg
mobile users in India at over 600 mil-
lion, almost 50% more that 400 mil-
lion in May 2009), the question of at
least one in three connections not
in active use stares us in the face.
With almost two-third mobile
using households still being ‘single
mobile user’ households, there is still
a large play area available to in-
crease the user base and penetration
but among the users, 97% are us-
ing the Internet regularly and
79% use the net daily. In another
words, the pond is not growing,
but getting ‘fishier’.
Users have increased more in
smaller urban areas (with a pop-
ulation of less than five lakh)
and, in fact, account for half of all
urban Internet users. The south-
er n part of the country
has been found to be more
net-savvy. Also, home continues
to be the largest single place of
access at 53%.
However, for Internet to reach
to the masses, factors such as
availability, accessibility, af-
fordability, relevance in day-to-
day life, simpler/less technical
operability and language comfort-
ability need to be addressed.
Also, for existing users, con-
nectivity, speed and content have
to be enhanced.
Service providers
‘Active’ multiple connections
Subscribers Subscriptions
(%)
Airtel 27.7
Vodafone 15.6
Reliance 15.1
IDEA 13.1
BSNL 10.6
Tata Teleservices 7.7
Aircel 6.9
FOR THE RECORD
Ç 304 mn mobile subscribers,
355 mn active connections
Ç Average mobile users per
household: 2.05; average
active mobile connections
per user: 1.17
Ç Household-level penetration
of mobiles: 61%; individual-
level penetration: 26%
Ç 50:50 split of mobile use in
urban and rural areas
of mobile phones than to focus on
multiple connections and increas-
ing tele-density. For this to happen,
the spotlight must shift on the user
w w w. f i n a n c i a l e x p re s s .
TOP
WEBSITES
Google
46%
Yahoo
11%
Gmail
9%
Orkut
6%
Popular online activities SMALL music downloading, PC to
mobile sms, videos, movies and Rediff
WINDOW screensavers/wallpapers
% Internet users
undertaking
Top website
gaining noticeably. 4%
Emailing 94 Gmail
Ç 51 mn active Internet Ironically, despite the Inter-
users; 40 mn urban and 11 net’s unmatched possibilities Facebook
Download music 72 Songspk
Instant messaging / chat 56 Gtalk/Gmail mn rural as a marketing medium, it
largely remains a window shop
2.4%
Job search 56 Naukri Ç 97% regular users; for Indians. The base of online
PC to Mobile SMS 55 Way2sms 79% use daily Moneycontrol
buyers has been hovering
Social Networking 54 Orkut
Ç 23% access it on around just one in five for the 1%
Info search Engine 52 Google past two-three years. It is equally
mobile phones
Watch Videos 50 YouTube ironical that ownership of credit YouTube
Average number of online activities undertaken per person: 17
Ç Social interactivity
platforms put together
cards among online Indians is
also around one in four for the 1%
Source: JUXTconsult past couple of years.
account for 81% of all Blogspot
For instance, ‘social inter- communities) and not neces- As for access through mo-
activity’ has been found to be the sarily discussion, debates or
regular internet users
biles, it is essentially an urban 0.8 %
mainline Internet activity, but commenting (blogs, product Ç 53% access Internet phenomenon and that, too, in-
it should not be confused with reviews, forums, etc). Social at home volves dual access to the Inter- 160by2
‘social media’. What has gained interactivity platforms put to- net through PCs as well. So even
importance is mainly personal gether account for 81% of all if access on mobile phones has 0.7 %
and professional interaction regular Internet users, which is a 29% readership. Also, the net tripled in the past year, with
*Figures are % of Internet
and sharing (social network- up 13% over last year. However, is increasingly being seen as a 23% users, most of them use users accessing sites
ing, professional networking, blogs still lag behind with just medium of entertainment, with computers as well. Source: JUXTconsult
in use are between the price range
of Rs 1,500-3,000. Clearly, Indian mo-
Handset brands bile users are budget buyers and
% of total active mobile handsets ‘need-driven’ upgraders at their core.
While a mobile is a communication
(%) All India Urban Rural
(%) (%) (%) medium, it is also a device for en-
28.0 tertainment, particularly music.
Nokia 62.2 65.2 59.1
15.3 However, the percentage of Inter-
LG 10.2 10.3 10.0
15.0 net users on the mobile is still 4%,
Samsung 9.2 7.7 10.7 despite 16% being Internet users.
13.0
Sony Ericsson 3.6 3.2 4.0 Even within this 4%, most of them
10.7
Micromax 1.6 1.0 2.3 use other means of accessing the
7.5
Motorola 1.6 1.8 1.3 Internet as well and only one in 25
6.8 mobile users surf the Internet on the
Source: JUXTconsult
mobile.
and not on the connection.
Interestingly, the study
found that more than half
of all multiple active con-
nection mobile users come
from rural areas. It was also
found that the urban-rural split of
mobile use at both the subscriber
level and the active connection
level comes close to 50:50,
against TRAI data that indi-
cates a 75:25 split at the over-
all mobile connections level.
Thus, given the mass ap-
peal of mobiles, the study
indicates an eventual shift
toward the hinterland.
When it comes to mo-
bile handsets, the mass ac-
ceptance of mobile phones
is reflected in the fact that
almost half of all handsets