India's internet user base grows 8% YoY to 95.4 crore
India's number of internet subscribers has witnessed a significant surge, reaching 95.4 crore by March 2024, according to a report by the Ministry of Communications. This marks an addition of 7.3 crore subscribers over the previous year's figure of 88.1 crore in March 2023, indicating a yearly growth rate of over 8%. The report also highlights that broadband services were a key contributor to this growth.
Broadband services fuel growth
Broadband services played a crucial role in driving the increase in internet subscribers, with their user base expanding from 84.6 crore to 92.4 crore. This represents a robust growth rate of over 9%. The surge underscores the rising demand for high-speed internet across India, as more people rely on digital platforms for various activities such as work, V, entertainment, and communication.
Tele-density and telephone subscribers see an uptick
The report also revealed improvements in overall tele-density, a metric that measures the ratio of telephone connections to the population. It increased from 84.51% to 85.69% over the past year. Concurrently, the number of telephone subscribers also saw a rise, growing from 117.2 crore to nearly 120 crore, marking a modest increase of about 2%.
Wireless data usage and telecom sector's revenue rise
Wireless data subscribers experienced a substantial growth, rising from 84.6 crore to 91.3 crore. The total volume of wireless data used also saw a significant jump, climbing from 1,60,054 petabytes (PB) to 1,94,774 PB - an increase of nearly 22%. Also, the average monthly minutes of usage per subscriber rose from 919 to 963 minutes over the past year.
