Online communication including emails, messaging services like WhatsApp and web calls replaced social media as the second-most popular internet usage in rural India in December 2017 compared with the previous year.
Entertainment remained the top reason for accessing the internet in the country’s hinterland, said a recent report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India and Kantar IMRB.
Rural penetration grew to 20.26 percent in December compared with 18 percent a year ago. In comparison, internet penetration in urban India increased to 64.84 percent. That highlights the rural-urban divide in internet consumption in the country.
The total number of internet users grew 11 percent to 48.1 crore and is expected to hit 50 crore by June. The top nine cities account for 35 percent of all urban internet users, with Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata leading the charts. Smaller cities and non-metros have a lower internet penetration than the national average for rural India.
And while demonetisation encouraged cashless transactions in urban India, online financial transactions in rural India, which cover e-commerce activities and digital payments, “still lag considerably” over the last year, the report said.
Indian villages lack adequate charging facilities, get poor quality service and find data expensive. Which means, Indians switch off the internet for long periods, and switch it back on when required.
(This article was originally published on BloomgbergQuint.)
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