80% urban users use mobile internet for communication: IAMAI study

The number of mobile internet users in India is expected to reach 371 million by June 2016. There were 306 million mobile internet users in India in December, 2015. Of the 306 million internet users, 219 million users are from Urban India, which registered a Y-o-Y growth of 71%, while the user-base in Rural India has gone up by 93% from December 2014, to reach 87 million in December 2015. These are the major findings of a report titled ‘Mobile Internet in India 2015’, released by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, today.

Figure: 1: Mobile Internet Users

The report also finds that the share of mobile internet spend out of average monthly bill has increased to 64% in 2015 as compared to 54% in 2014. The average monthly bill has reduced to the extent of 18% compared to last year.

Figure 2:

For the first time “Online Communication” has surpassed “Social media websites” to top the purpose to access mobile internet list. 80% of the urban users use mobile internet for communication whereas 74% access social networking sites using their mobile internet. In Rural India however, majority of the users access Mobile Internet for Entertainment. This is followed by Social Networking & Online Communication.

 Figure 3: