Do You Know India Has The Cheapest Internet In The World?
Nowadays, the Internet is used in offices, homes, hospitals, NGOs, public transport places, and so on. It is used in the form of mobile data, broadband, WiFi, etc. People use a variety of technologies and media together with dial-up, Ethernet, cables, ISDN, 3G and 4G. While services, for instance, emails, social media, and online shopping are widespread in Indian cities, it is the audio-video entertainment that is boosting Internet usage in the rural parts of the country.
Broadband and mobile data services in India have seen some improvement in 2018 as compared to the previous year, but there may well still be loads to cover before the country starts ranking amongst the best in the world.
As per a report by Ookla, as India’s mobile Internet speed showed marginal improvement during the year, listing a year-over-year growth rate of 15.2 percent, the broadband speed generated 50.4 percent growth rate.
High Internet Speed with Jio
For the last two years, since its inception in 2016, Reliance Jio has been working towards making India one of the top five countries in the world with high-speed broadband connectivity.
Jio has elicited a digital revolution and has made it possible for a large part of the Indian population, both urban and rural to use the power of data. The company has brought into focus the vast data potential in the country, projecting it to be the highest mobile data consumption country in the world. Jio is planning to create 500 million feature phone users in India, who do not have access to basic Internet facility.
With the way Jio is reaching the masses, Indians even in the farthest villages will have the easy and fast access to online entertainment, learning, e-Healthcare, e-banking, e-Governance, and immediate information, just like in the developed countries. Reliance Industries has invested $32bn in Jio and initially, it managed to entice over 150m subscribers in less than 18 months. The company has basically renovated the Indian telecoms market, supercharging mobile data usage with its hi-tech equipment and cut-price rates.
Price and Users comparison
Easy access to computers, the transformation of countries around the world and augmented use of smartphones has provided people with the opportunity to use the internet more often and with more expediency. That makes faster internet speed all the more important and every country is trying to achieve internet speed, as fast as possible, and at very affordable prices.
As of now, the list of countries with the fastest internet speed (average download speed) is:
1st — Singapore with 185.25 Mbps2nd- Iceland with 153.3 Mbps,
3rd — South Korea with 114.31 Mbps.
The US comes fifth with 107.28 Mbps, whereas the UK is further behind at 27th position with 55.14Mbps.
Average price for 1 GB:
Research showed that the average price of 1 GB in :
- India — USD 0.26
- Kyrgyzstan — USD 0.27
- Ukraine — USD 0.51
- UK — USD 6.66
- USA — USD 12.37
The global average was about USD 8.53 for 1GB. Zimbabwe is the most expensive country with the average cost of 1GB data comes at USD 75.20. Africa, Rwanda, Sudan, and Congo offer less than USD 1 data prices and Equatorial Guinea and Saint Helena are charging over USD 50 for 1GB.
For now, in the ranks of countries based on a number of internet users, China tops the list with 746 million, followed by India at 699 million, the United States with 245 million, and Pakistan and UK, both are at 10th and 11th respectively with 62 million users each.
Originally published at dailyjag.com on March 24, 2019.