Increasing the number of mobile internet users in India

Abstract

During the past 3 and ½ years, number of wireless subscribers in India has grown over 4 times to reach 427 million (as of June 2009). Most notable factors which contributed to this growth were cheaper cost of feature handsets; cheaper call rates, tough competition among operators and aggressive marketing by operators. One big inflection point happened when operators launched lifetime prepaid connection schemes. However, the number of active mobile internet users in India is just 2 million. In a country where cost of PC is a significant barrier to penetration of internet, mobile internet can help in providing internet access to masses.