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It Happens Only in India

Falling Internet connections in India

By: Karthik :+: Under: It Happens Only in India, Technology
On: ⋅ October 8, 2007 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Post a comment
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India’s Internet connections fall.

Broadband is making waves across the world, , but Internet connections in India are falling. The total connections in India has dropped from 9.27 million to 9.22 million in the quarter ending June according to the Telephone Regulatory Authority of India.

Shocking? Not really, because the number of Internet users has increased by 7 million.

How you ask? Behold the mobile phone. About 20% of Indian mobile phone users get online with that little gadget they carry around.

This emphasizes how the cellphone is fast becoming the primary medium for Indians to connect to the net as the number of people using their mobile handsets to access the web is now over four times those using a PC.

Besides the known positives like availability everywhere, this statistic points to the bad state of infrastructure in India.

“The largest service providers are two state-owned companies — BSNL and MTNL,” she adds. “But they are so overwhelmed by the load, that their servers crash often. Accessing the Net on the mobile becomes more convenient.”

If you are planning on a startup in India, I would test it with a mobile phone first.

On a related note, here is a post by Manish, talking about his experience back home.

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