THE CONNECTIVITY ARCTIC IN INDIA

Despite extensive telecom coverage, 5G rollout, and growing fibre networks, India still races connectivity gaps. Heres a reality check on the connectivity desert

- PRATIMA HARIGUNANI

It is great to brag about how fast our OTT shows stream now or how quickly we can order a burger from that restaurant on the other side of the town. But there is more to the connectivity bubble we are walking in today. The picture on the other side of the pond is quite different.

If we look at TRAI’s Indian Telecom Services Performance Indicators January–March 2023, the Internet penetration in India as of March 2023, stood at 880 million. The number of telecom subscribers as of March 2023 was over 1,172 million. On the contrary, Nielsen’s India Internet Report 2023 indicates that nearly half of the rural population is still not actively using the Internet. The current state of fibreisation of towers was observed at 38%, as per a KPMG India report for India Mobile Congress (IMC) 2023. According to an Ookla report, The State of Worldwide Connectivity in 2023, despite improvements in global connectivity, there are still areas that fall outside of network coverage

These reports highlight the disparities in Internet performance between fixed and mobile networks across different regions, reminding the importance of addressing connectivity challenges worldwide. Interestingly, fixed networks demonstrated a 19% increase in median download speed (83.95 Mbps) and a 28% increase in upload speed (38.32 Mbps) in Q3 2023 compared to the previous year. Due to a lack of bandwidth (and therefore slower speeds), people in Africa and APAC areas need help doing many things on the Internet.