Opera Software just released a report detailing the mobile Internet in India and one of the interesting findings is that 49% of Indians are Mobile Only Internet Users (MOIUs), meaning people who never or infrequently use the desktop for Internet.
According to a cover story published by Indian tech news site aFaqs, the number of active mobile Internet users in India sprung from 8 million to 25 million in just one year and interestingly, it is not a phenomenon exclusive to the metro. According to the article, 60 per cent of web traffic comes from non-metros, which shows a country-wide adaptation of mobile browsing.
MOIUs are described by the news site as more net savvy and are better acquainted with their mobile phones, compared to desktop users. Apart from popular websites, they also explore non-mainstream apps and pages.
Another trend revealed in aFaqs’ cover story is that most of the users also access content through mobile apps because of the effortless consumption experience. Apps provide an easy user interface and a quick retrieval of content even on low-priced handsets, which usually have smaller screens and low data processing power.
Another factor that boosted India’s mobile Internet is the availability of relatively cheap and diverse Internet plans. Most local operators offer unlimited or 2-3GB of data usage per month for under Rs. 100.
The article then mentions that the internet-capable mobile handsets is bigger (250 million units) than the installed base of desktop computers (around 35 million) in India. At the current rate things are going, it is inevitable that the mobile web growth will overtake fixed web sooner rather than later, which will undoubtedly have a huge effect on the way Mobile Internet is consumed.
Here’s a quick Infographic also from aFaqs on the rise of the mobile web in India:
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