Internet in India began in 1986 and was initially available only to the educational and research community. General public access to the internet in India began on 15 August 1995. American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate Cisco estimated that India will have more than 900 million Internet users by 2023.[1]
It is reported that in 2022 an average mobile Internet consumption in India was 19.5 GB per month and the mobile data usage per month rose from 4.5 exabytes in 2018 to 14.4 exabytes in 2022.[2][3]
As of May 2014, the Internet is delivered to India mainly by 9 different undersea fibres, including SEA-ME-WE 3, Bay of Bengal Gateway and Europe India Gateway, arriving at 5 different landing points.[4] In 2022, it was reported that India is also a potential market of Starlink.[5] And apart from having one overland internet connection at the city of Agartala near the border with Bangladesh, India has also established a 2,300-kilometre undersea cable to increase internet connectivity to its Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in 2020.[6]
The Indian Government has embarked on projects such as BharatNet, Digital India, Brand India and Startup India to further expedite the growth of internet-based ecosystems.
Reliance has started the project of underlying submarine cable connecting continents of Europe and Asia and keeping India its centre India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) and India-Asia-Xpress (IAX) - the world's largest submarine cable system, are said to be ready between 2023 and 2024.[7]
While early computer networks were operated since the late 1970s by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, the military,[8] along with general-use computer networks such as INDONET, NICNET, and VIKRAM,[9] the history of the Internet in India began with the launch of the Educational Research Network (ERNET) in 1986.[10] The network was made available only to educational and research communities.[11] ERNET was initiated by the Department of Electronics (DoE), with funding from the Government of India and United Nations Development Program (UNDP), involving eight premier institutions as participating agencies—NCST Bombay, Indian Institute of Science, five Indian Institutes of Technology (Delhi, Mumbai, Kanpur, Kharagpur and Chennai), and the DoE in New Delhi. ERNET began as a multi protocol network with both the TCP/IP and the OSI-IP protocol stacks running over the leased-line portion of the backbone. Since 1995, however, almost all traffic is carried over TCP/IP.[12] The first leased line of 9.6 kbit/s was installed in January 1991 between Delhi and Mumbai. ERNET was allotted Class B IP address 144.16.0.0 by NIC (then InterNIC) in 1990. Subsequently, Class C addresses were allotted to ERNET by APNIC. All IITs, IISc Bangalore, DOE Delhi and NCST Mumbai were connected by 9.6 kbit/s leased line by 1992. In the same year, 64 kbit/s Internet gateway link was commissioned from NCST Mumbai to UUNet in Virginia, United States. NICNet was established in 1995 for communications between government institutions. The network was operated by the National Informatics Centre.[11]
The first publicly available internet service in India was launched by state-owned Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL) on 15 August 1995.[13][14] At the time, VSNL had a monopoly over international communications in the country and private enterprise was not permitted in the sector. The internet service, known as the Gateway Internet Access Service (GIAS), provided a speed of 9.6 kbit/s speed and was priced at ₹5,200 for 250 hours for individuals, ₹16,200 for institutional dial-up SLIP/PPP accounts, and higher for leased line services.[15]
However, for the next 10 years, the Internet experience in the country remained less attractive, with narrow-band connections having speeds less than 56 kbit/s (dial-up).[16][17]
In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy, which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet connection with a download speed of 256 kbit/s or above."[16] From 2005 onward, the growth of the broadband sector in the country accelerated but remained below the growth estimates of the government and related agencies due to resource issues in last-mile access, which were predominantly wired-line technologies. This bottleneck was removed in 2010 when the government auctioned the 3G spectrum, followed by an equally high-profile auction of 4G spectrum, that set the scene for a competitive and invigorated wireless broadband market. 5G drives India's internet speed, ranking up 72 places, ahead of many G20 countries.[18] After the launch of Reliance Jio in 2016, Internet data rates dropped considerably, and telecom companies expanded their fiber optic networks in competition. Today, internet access in India is provided by both public and private companies using a variety of technologies and media, including dial-up (PSTN), xDSL, coaxial cable, Ethernet, FTTH, ISDN, HSDPA (3G), Wi-Fi, WiMAX, etc., at a wide range of speeds and costs.[19]
Technologies
Overview
Wired Internet access technologies by usage share as of 31 March 2023.[20]
In 2004, the government formulated its broadband policy which defined broadband as "an always-on Internet connection with download speed of 256 kbit/s or above."[16] The definition was amended in July 2013 defining broadband as a "data connection that supports interactive services, including internet access, capable of a minimum download speed of 256 kbps to an individual subscriber."[23][24] The minimum download speed was officially raised from 256 kbit/s to 512 kbit/s in August 2014.[25]
On September 1, 2021, TRAI increased the minimum broadband speed to 2 Mbit/s.[26] The regulator announced that broadband would now be defined as "an always-on data connection, provided over fixed or wireless infrastructure, that is able to support multiple information and interactive services such as Internet access and on-demand video and offers a minimum downlink and uplink speed of 2 Mbps to an individual subscriber from the point of presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide the broadband service.". [27]
The worldwide broadband speed league ranked India 74th out of 221 countries with a mean download speed of 47.99 Mbit/s as of 30 June 2023.[28] According to the Akamai Q1 2017 State of the Internet Report, the average internet connection speed in India is 6.5 Mbit/s and the average peak connection speed is 41.4 Mbit/s. Globally, India was ranked 89th out of 149 countries/regions by average internet connection speed and 97th by average peak connection speed. 42% of internet users in India have an average internet connection speed of above 4 Mbit/s, 19% have a speed of over 10 Mbit/s, and 10% enjoy speeds over 15 Mbit/s. The average internet connection speed on mobile networks in India was 4.9 Mbit/s.[29][30]
According to the November 2023 Speedtest Global Index, published by Speedtest.net, India was ranked 18th out of 145 countries by median mobile Internet speed and 87th out of 181 countries by median fixed broadband speed. The median fixed broadband download speed in India is 58.62 Mbit/s, and the median fixed broadband upload speed is 50.42 Mbit/s. Speedtest recorded the median download speed on mobile connections in India as 94.62 Mbit/s and the median upload speed as 9.02 Mbit/s.[31]
The World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated that about 60% of Indian internet users viewed vernacular content and only about a quarter of internet users were over the age of 35 years in 2019. The WEF also estimated that 1.1 billion Indians would have access to the Internet by 2030, with 80% of the subscriber base primarily accessing the Internet on mobile devices. The profile of India's internet user base was predicted to diversify by 2030 with 80% of users accessing vernacular content and with users over 25 years making up 45% of the total subscriber base.[33] There is also a digital gender gap with far more male Internet users in the country compared to female users. The gap is more pronounced in rural hinterlands compared to urban metros.[34]
Access to the Internet can be divided into dial-up and broadband access. Around the start of the 21st century, most residential access was by dial-up, while access from businesses was usually by higher speed connections. In subsequent years dial-up declined in favour of broadband access. Both types of access generally use a modem, which converts digital data to analog for transmission over a particular analog network (ex. the telephone or cable networks).[35]
Dial-up access is a connection to the Internet through a phone line, creating a semi-permanent link to the Internet.[35] Operating on a single channel, it monopolizes the phone line and is the slowest method of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas because it requires no infrastructure other than the already existing telephone network. Dial-up connections typically do not exceed a speed of 56 kbit/s, because they are primarily made via a 56k modem.[35]
Broadband access includes a wide range of speeds and technologies, all of which provide much faster access to the Internet than dial-up. The term "broadband" once had a technical meaning, but today it is more often a marketing buzzword that simply means "faster". Broadband connections are continuous or "always on" connections, without the need to dial and hang-up, and do not monopolize phone lines.[35] Common types of broadband access include DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines), Fibre to the x (Optical fibre network), Cable Internet access, Satellite Internet access, mobile broadband via cell phones and other mobile devices among many others.[36]
There were 1031 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offering broadband and narrowband services in India as on 31 March 2023. The ten largest ISPs account for 98.82% of the total subscriber base. Jio (49.77%), Airtel (29.71%), Vodafone Idea (15.45%), BSNL (3.21%) and Atria Convergence Technologies (0.24%) were the five largest ISPs by subscribers in India as on 31 March 2023.[20]
As on 31 March 2023, the five largest wired broadband providers in India are Jio (24.54%), Airtel (18.04%), BSNL (10.70%), Atria Convergence Technologies (6.31%), Hathway (3.31%). Other wired ISPs account for the remaining 37.10% of subscribers. The five largest wireless broadband providers are Jio (50.78%), Airtel (30.18%), Vodafone Idea (16.07%) and BSNL (2.91%).[20]
The total international Internet bandwidth owned by Indian ISPs was 35,855 Gbit/s as on 31 March 2023.[20] International bandwidth is the maximum rate of data transmission from a single country to the rest of the world.[37]
There are a number of internet service providers (ISPs) operating in India. Some of the major ISPs include:
During August 2015, there were no laws governing net neutrality in India, which would require that all Internet users be treated equally, without discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.[38] There had already been a few violations of net neutrality principles by some Indian service providers.[39] The government had once again called in for comments and suggestions regarding net neutrality on 14 August, and had given the people one day to post their views on the MyGov forum. After this, the final decision regarding the debate was to be made.
The debate on network neutrality in India gathered public attention after Airtel, a mobile telephony service provider in India, announced in December 2014 additional charges for making voice calls (VoIP) from its network using apps like WhatsApp, Skype, etc.[40]
On 27 March 2015, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a formal consultation paper on Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services, seeking comments from the public.[41] The consultation paper was criticised for being one sided and having confusing statements. It received condemnation from various politicians and Indian Internet users.[42][43][44] The last date for submission of comment was 24 April 2015 and TRAI received over a million emails.[45]
On 8 February 2016, TRAI took a revolutionary decision, prohibiting telecom service providers from levying discriminatory rates for data,[46] thus ruling in favour of Net Neutrality in India. This move was welcomed not just by millions of Indians but also by various political parties, businesspersons, industry leaders,[47] and the inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners Lee.[48]
Internet censorship in India is selectively practised by both federal and state governments. DNS filtering and educating service users on better usage is an active strategy and government policy to regulate and block access to Internet content on a large scale. Measures to remove content at the request of content creators through court orders have become more common in recent years.
Freedom House'sFreedom on the Net 2016 report gives India a Freedom on the Net status of "Partly Free" with a rating of 41 (0-100 scale, lower is better). Its Obstacles to Access was rated 12 (0-25 scale), Limits on Content was rated 9 (0-35 scale) and Violations of User Rights was rated 20 (0-40 scale).[49] India was ranked 29th out of the 65 countries included in the report.[50]
In the 2022 report], the rating was increased from 41 to 51 (lower is better). Its Obstacles to Access were rated 13 (0-25 scale), Limits on Content was 21 (0-32 scale) and Violations of User Rights was 17 (0-40 scale). India was ranked 37th out of 70 countries rated in the report.[51]
Ratings of India (from Freedom on the Net reports)
One of the major issues facing the Internet segment in India is the lower average bandwidth of broadband connections compared to that of developed countries. According to 2007 statistics, the average download speed in India hovered at about 40 KB per second (256 kbit/s), the minimum speed set by TRAI, whereas the international average was 5.6 Mbit/s during the same period. In order to attend this infrastructure issue the government declared 2007 as "the year of broadband".[52][53] To compete with international standards of defining broadband speed the Indian Government has taken the aggressive step of proposing a ₹690 billion national broadband network to connect all cities, towns and villages with a population of more than 500 in two phases targeted for completion by 2012 and 2013. Google and Tata have launched the Internet Saathi project to help increase digital literacy amongst women in rural areas. The network was supposed to provide speeds up to 10 Mbit/s in 63 metropolitan areas and 4 Mbit/s in an additional 352 cities.The Internet penetration rate in India is medium and accounts for 42% of the population compared to the rate in OECD counties, where the average is over 50%.[54][55][56]
Another issue is the digital divide where growth is biased in favour of urban areas; according to 2010 statistics, more than 75 per cent of the broadband connections in the country are in the top 30 cities.[16] Regulators have tried to boost the growth of broadband in rural areas by promoting higher investment in rural infrastructure and establishing subsidised tariffs for rural subscribers under the Universal service obligation scheme of the Indian government.[citation needed]
E-commerce industry
Number of Indian consumers who were expected to purchase something online in 2018: 120 million.
Number of Indian consumers who were expected to purchase something online in 2020: 175 million.
Number of Indian consumers who were expected to purchase something online in 2021: 289.1 million.[57]
Number of Indian consumers who were expected to purchase something online in last 2022: 312.5 million.[57]
Indian e-commerce industry net income in 2017: ₹2.46 trillion.
Indian e-commerce industry net income estimated in 2018: ₹3.02 trillion.
Indian e-commerce industry net income in 2019 proved the improvement of the socio-economy that it has attracted ₹2.58 trillion in only 6 early months of the year.
Data centers
BSNL Internet Data Centers, in collaboration with Dimension Data[58]
Trimax IT Infrastructure & Services Limited – Tier III data centers in Mumbai and Bengaluru[59]
According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), internet traffic in India increased by 30% during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) found that the number of Indians using the internet for education increased by 50% during the pandemic.
A study by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM Ahmedabad) found that the number of Indians using the internet for healthcare increased by 60% during the pandemic.
A study by the World Economic Forum found that India was one of the countries where the internet played the biggest role in helping people cope with the COVID-19 pandemic.
^ abnicpib4. "Focus". Pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 1 October 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Internet Usage in Asia". International Telecommunications Unit: Asian Internet Users. ITU. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
Internet portal
