The U.S. Will Be Surpassed By India In Internet Users

As a follow-up of a new survey conducted in India, it is becoming clear that the U.S. will be surpassed by India in Internet users numbers. The staggering population of India is becoming more accustomed with accessing the Internet on their mobile phones, and thus the user base has grown considerably in the last year. The survey was conducted in 35 cities in India, by IMRB International, a firm for market research and IAMAI, the mobile association in India.

According to the survey, India will reach 402 million users by the end of the year, with 351 million active on a daily basis. As a result, it will surpass the United States and occupy the second place on the podium right after China, which has 600 million users.

Looking back in time, it took India more than ten years to grow from 10 million users to 100 million. The next milestone of 200 million users was reached in three years. However, it took them only one year to grow from 300 million users to 400 million. The explanation is simple though: the pace of technology evolution is to blame.

It may seem like a huge number, but if we take into consideration India’s population of 1.2 billion people we can notice that not even half of the population has constant access to Internet.

Figures show that the top urban areas of the country cover only 31% of the users. As more and more people have started accessing the Internet on their mobile phones, a growth of users has been recorded in the rural areas. But how could this happen in such a short time?

The prices for mobile phones have dropped in 2015, which made them accessible for people with modest earnings. Mobile has also long been considered one of the main drivers for emerging markets, and India is one of these.

Even though there are not many users in rural places, they are however rapidly growing. It can also be considered the most interesting growth of access, as it is also the most affected by the introduction of the smart-phones.

Last but not least, it is also worthy to mention the difference in Internet usage in terms of gender. As the survey has shown, 71% of India’s Internet users are male.

While by the end of December the U.S. will be surpassed by India in Internet users, it will be interesting to see if the online market and social media will change in any way to accommodate with the new user preferences.

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