India's netizens to reach 900mn by 2025, but China still ahead in internet users game
These 759 million active users represent 52% of the country’s population. (An active Internet user is one who accesses the Internet at least once a month). But, even as this Internet adoption rate steadies in the post-pandemic period, it is happening at a much lower rate compared to earlier trends—and, especially, compared to that of China.
Mobile phones are the primary access devices to log on to the Internet, with 100% of the 759 million users relying on them. But the use of other devices has been rising from 8% in 2021 to 13% in 2022.
The Internet in India Report, 2022, reveals that, of the 759 million people who are active Internet users, only 360 million come from the urban areas, while 399 million belong to the rural countryside. In this sense, rural India seems to have assumed a large role in spurring the growth of the country’s Internet users. The Internet penetration in urban India is currently 71%.
In India, over half of the Internet users consume news online, the report said on Thursday. The report reveals that rural India is more keen on news consumption (63% or 238 million) than the urban centres (37%). In 2022, urban India witnessed a 6% spurt in Internet penetration, while rural India saw a 14% rise. The report says it is expected that 56% of all new Internet users in the country by 2025 will be from the rural population.
The most popular reasons for accessing the Internet are social media, digital communications and digital entertainment. The IAMAI-KANTAR report also expects a 51% year-on-year growth in digital business, hinting that social media platforms may open new doors for e-commerce proliferation in the country.
AND THE CHINA SCENARIO
In comparison, the number of Internet users in China had hit a whopping 1.05 billion as early as in June 2022, with 99.6% being mobile phone users, says the 50 th China Statistical Report on Internet Development released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on Wednesday (August 31, 2022). The report also states that 74.4% of the Chinese population has access to the Internet now—across the diverse gadgets of mobile phones, desktop computers, laptops, tablet computers and TVs.
By June 2022, China’s gigabit optical network had the capacity to cover more than 400 million households, with 1.85 million 5G base stations having been put into operation, which provided 5G access to every county and village in China. The combined figure of fixed Internet broadband users of three basic telecom companies in China—China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile—reached 563 million, chalking up a net increase of 27.05 million over end-2021. In comparison, taking into account the most recent broadband subscription numbers, India’s current Internet users now number 825.3 million.
DIVERSE NETWORK ACCESSES
According to the report, as of June 2022, the number of Chinese Internet users continued to grow, with 19.19 million new Internet users compared to those in December 2021, and the Internet penetration rate (percentage of Internet users in China) increased by 1.4 percentage points. The construction of Internet infrastructure in rural areas also improved, with all administrative villages obtaining broadband access, pushing the Internet penetration rate in rural areas up 1.2 percentage points from December 2021 to 58.8%.
CHINA’S USERS BY NUMBERS
The number of China’s instant messaging, online news, webcast and digital health users rose by June 2022.
The number of messaging users touched 1.027 billion, up 20.42 million from December 2021, accounting for 97.7% of all Internet users. In comparison, 87.5 million people in India used WhatsApp in 2022.
With a rise of 16.98 million over December 2021, the number of online news users touched 788 million, accounting for 75% of the total number of Internet users. In comparison, according to the IAMAI- KANTAR report, only about 379 million (or 52%) of the Internet users in Indian languages access online news through a bouquet of websites/news apps.
Furthermore, the number of webcast users touched 716 million with a rise of 12.9 million from those in December 2021. In comparison, the number of active users of short video platforms across India is expected to rise from 290 million in 2021 to 650 million users—nowhere near China’s present-day mark.
Girish Linganna
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Cong functionary arrested on POCSO charges
Bengaluru (PTI): A Congress functionary has been arrested on POCSO charges for alleged inappropriate behaviour with a 16-year-old minor girl.
The 40-year-old complainant has also accused the Congress functionary Anand P of assault, criminal intimidation and coercion, police said.
According to the FIR, Anand allegedly used to visit his house and developed an illicit relationship with his wife.
When he questioned their relationship, his wife and Anand allegedly assaulted him and attempted to kill him. The complaint also alleges repeated acts of violence against the children, police said.
The accused and the complainant’s wife allegedly assaulted the children multiple times with sticks and stabbed them with a knife, causing bleeding injuries, according to the FIR.
The complainant claimed to possess photographic evidence of the incidents, and he alleged inappropriate behaviour by Anand towards his minor daughter.
“Anand has also inappropriately touched my 16-year-old daughter and indecently spoken to her,” the FIR quoted him as saying.
Police said the complaint further accused Anand P of criminal intimidation and coercion in property matters.
Police said a case has been registered based on the complaint, and further investigation is underway.
