20% growth Q-o-Q will take mobile internet users in India to 155 million by March 2014

The number of internet users has crossed 200 million in India, said a report last year. A majority of them have been on mobile, and IAMAI in a recent report projected that the number of mobile internet users is going to reach 155 million in India by the end of March 2014, and 185 million by June 2014, maintaining a Q-o-Q growth of 20%. The ‘Mobile Internet in India 2013’ report states that by the end of December 2013, the number of mobile internet users would be 130 million. The number of mobile internet users in October 2013 was 110 million with 85 million users from urban India and the rest 25 million from rural India.

According to the report, urban India will continue to account for a large percentage of mobile internet users across the country and is expected to reach 126 million by March 2014 and touch 153 million users by June 2014. Significantly, a drastic growth was witnessed in the number of users of mobile internet in rural India and will register an impressive 50% growth to reach 32 million by June 2014.

The report also finds that ARPU (average revenue per user) has dropped to Rs 387 from Rs 460 in 2012. However, the percentage amount spent on mobile internet has gone up to 45% from 43%. Thirty five per cent of the mobile internet users are spending between Rs 100 and Rs 500 monthly on their phone expenses. Nine per cent are spending over Rs 500 and just six per cent of the users are spending less than Rs 100 every month.

The IAMAI report also finds that the median price of a handset has fallen from Rs. 8,250 in 2012 to Rs 7,000 in 2013. This is attributed to the reducing prices of phones with advanced features. More and more manufacturers are trying to target the ‘Value for Money’ segment by offering more features at lower prices.