At 16%, Internet Penetration In Rural India Lags Behind Many Countries: Report

PM Modi’s Digital India might not be progressing as well as he had anticipated. According to the Cellular Operators’ Association of India (COAI) IMC-Deloitte report released at the recently held ‘India Mobile Congress 2017,’ the overall Internet penetration in the country stands at a disappointing 33 per cent. In fact, what’s more discouraging is the fact, the figure is just 16 percent in the rural areas of the country.

The report revealed that the Indian subcontinent currently occupies the 36th rank, globally, when it comes to internet inclusion based on factors such as availability, affordability, relevance and readiness.

With only 23 per cent, the South Asian country is several miles behind many countries in broadband penetration. As of August this year, India, which has a population of about 1.324 billion, has just around 310 million broadband subscribers.

For the uninitiated, a country’s broadband penetration can be considered a key element in achieving a country’s socio-economic objectives. In fact, a rise in broadband penetration to 60 per cent can result into a potential 5-6 percent increase in the country’s GDP.

Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI believes that the Indian telecom industry has been contributing significantly to the Indian economy. He affirms that the industry has in fact ensured that the Modi government’s Digital India programme is able to reach the farthest corners of the country. He further said, “With the lowest call rates in the world and affordable access to data, the industry truly is at the cusp of a revolution.”

Adding to what Mathews said, PN Sudarshan, Partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP said, “Telecom is redefining mobility, work, governance, etc. and will promote geographical, financial and social inclusion and enable the interplay of technologies and industries for exponential growth propelling India towards a $5 trillion economy.”

The COAI IMC-Deloitte report also highlighted the need and tracking the implementation status of smart cities, smart healthcare, smart money, smart energy and smart agriculture.

In fact, some of the recommendations mentioned in the report regarding building internet connectivity-infrastructure for areas with billions of people included ‘setting aspirational goals,’ ‘increasing planned budgetary allocation and effective usage of Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)’ and ‘implementing policies and guidelines to standardise deployment of infrastructure.’

This development was first reported in Bgr.

[Image: MediaLabs]

India Gets Its First 1Gbps Broadband Service in Hyderabad

ACT (Atria Convergence Technologies) Fibernet, which is the third largest ISP in the wired broadband category in India after BSNL and Airtel, debuted its 1 Gbps wired broadband internet connection for the first time in the country in Hyderabad yesterday. With this, ACT Fibernet became the first local Internet Service Provider (ISP) to launch 1 Gbps wired broadband connection in the Indian subcontinent.

The 1 gigabit internet service will be rolled out in the capital city of Telangana, which is also a major IT business hub for the country. The 1 Gbps speed being offered by ACT Fibernet is the same as being made available by Google Fiber in select United States cities, and is almost 10x the speed being currently offered to Indian consumers by most Indian ISPs.

The ISP has been meticulously working over the past one year to make the launch of 1 Gbps internet connection possible. The connection will initially be launched in Hyderabad making it India's first Giga City and will then be gradually introduced in other cities of the country.

The 1 Gbps wired broadband internet connection will cost a consumer Rs. 6,900 per month, and come along with a bandwidth cap of 1TB for uploads and downloads. Though the price looks steep at first look, it is important to note here that ACT's 100Mbps plans start at Rs. 2,000 per month with a cap of 250GB, while the annual subscriptions to streaming video services Hotstar and Netflix start at Rs. 1,200 and Rs. 6000, respectively.

By launching 1 Gbps wired broadband internet connection, ACT left India's multi-vertical giant, Reliance far behind at bringing gigabit internet to the country. When the corporation launched its 4G network in the country last year, it announced about its plans to bring 1 Gbps broadband services in 100 major Indian cities.

With an average internet speed of 4.1Mbps across the country, India is currently placed at 105th position in the global ranking for broadband speeds. But with the launch of 1 Gbps wired broadband internet connection, ACT Fibernet has made India on par with very few developed nations in case of high speed internet.

With over 1.2 million customers and an estimated turnover of about Rs 1,200 crore, ACT is the largest non-telco ISP in the country. The company is planning to expand to newer cities and customer base in the next 18 months and has allocated about Rs 1,000 crore towards capital expenditure for the same.

India has slowest Internet speed in Asia

It's official now, the country with the second largest population in the world has the slowest Internet speed in Asia. India has the slowest internet speed in Asia according to the ‘State of the Internet’ quarterly report released by the internet content delivery network, Akamai.

Globally, India is ranked 118 in the report and is behind Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The report also states that the average internet connection speed in the country is just 1.7Mbps while the globally the average has reached 3.9Mbps. The average speed saw an increase of 8.4 percent quarter on quarter and 34 percent year on year.

India has an average peak connection speed of 12Mbps which is again less than Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Globally, the average peak connection speed is 21.2Mbps and as can be seen India is nowhere near it. The average peak connection speed saw an increase of 7.6 percent year on year and a decrease of 1.5 percent quarter on quarter.

The broadband adoption has been measured by Akamai by analyzing the percentage of users getting internet connection speed of 4Mbps or more. In India, the number of internet users with a speed of 4Mbps or more increased by 17 percent on quarter on quarter and 111 percent year on year.

According to Akamai, internet speeds above 10 Mbps and more should be considered as high broadband. It’s astonishing to know that in India only 0.7 percent of the internet users enjoy high broadband or have a connection speed of 10 Mbps or more. The report also reveals that in India, only 4.9 percent internet users have an access to internet connection with speeds of 4 Mbps or more. This has increased by 39 percent quarter on quarter and 106 percent year on year.

The highest average connection speed was recorded by South Korea at 23.6Mbps. It also has the highest average peak connection speed at 68.5Mbps according to the report.

The report also identifies the top countries form where the attack traffic originates and also the top ports which bear the brunt of these attacks.  Here, China took the top position by being responsible for about 41 percent of observed attack and was followed by the US which was responsible for 11 percent of the observed attack traffic.

The measurements which have been published in the ‘State of the Internet’ quarterly report are all based on the requests that were put forth to Akamai’s HTTP/S platform.

India has slowest Internet speed in Asia

It's official now, the country with the second largest population in the world has the slowest Internet speed in Asia. India has the slowest internet speed in Asia according to the ‘State of the Internet’ quarterly report released by the internet content delivery network, Akamai.

Globally, India is ranked 118 in the report and is behind Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The report also states that the average internet connection speed in the country is just 1.7Mbps while the globally the average has reached 3.9Mbps. The average speed saw an increase of 8.4 percent quarter on quarter and 34 percent year on year.

India has an average peak connection speed of 12Mbps which is again less than Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Globally, the average peak connection speed is 21.2Mbps and as can be seen India is nowhere near it. The average peak connection speed saw an increase of 7.6 percent year on year and a decrease of 1.5 percent quarter on quarter.

The broadband adoption has been measured by Akamai by analyzing the percentage of users getting internet connection speed of 4Mbps or more. In India, the number of internet users with a speed of 4Mbps or more increased by 17 percent on quarter on quarter and 111 percent year on year.

According to Akamai, internet speeds above 10 Mbps and more should be considered as high broadband. It’s astonishing to know that in India only 0.7 percent of the internet users enjoy high broadband or have a connection speed of 10 Mbps or more. The report also reveals that in India, only 4.9 percent internet users have an access to internet connection with speeds of 4 Mbps or more. This has increased by 39 percent quarter on quarter and 106 percent year on year.

The highest average connection speed was recorded by South Korea at 23.6Mbps. It also has the highest average peak connection speed at 68.5Mbps according to the report.

The report also identifies the top countries form where the attack traffic originates and also the top ports which bear the brunt of these attacks.  Here, China took the top position by being responsible for about 41 percent of observed attack and was followed by the US which was responsible for 11 percent of the observed attack traffic.

The measurements which have been published in the ‘State of the Internet’ quarterly report are all based on the requests that were put forth to Akamai’s HTTP/S platform.