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As companies like Google expand efforts to connect millions of people in rural India, Nokia’s latest annual Mobile Broadband Index (MBiT) reports a sharp surge in 3G data traffic across the country in 2015.
Driven by rising demand for multimedia services, average 3G data usage per user surpassed 750 MB per month in 2015, overtaking 2G for the first time. Video streaming and social networking now account for roughly 60% of total data traffic in India, which helps explain why global players are keen to establish a presence and bring more users online.
Earlier in the year, Facebook introduced its Free Basics service in India, offering limited free access to selected online services. Regulators blocked the program on net neutrality grounds because it prioritized certain services over competitors. At the time, founder Mark Zuckerberg stated he would continue working to make Free Basics compliant with Indian rules and to remove barriers to connectivity worldwide.
Year-on-year, 3G traffic in India rose by 85% in 2015. This rapid growth reflects both wider availability of 3G-capable devices and greater adoption of multimedia applications. Over the course of the year, 3G device penetration more than doubled, accelerating consumption of data-heavy services.
Sandeep Girotra, Vice President and Head of India Market at Nokia, commented: “Aggressive 3G network expansion in existing service areas and new launches by operators have been instrumental in increasing data traffic in India. We expect this growth to accelerate in coming years with additional spectrum auctions, higher smartphone penetration and a maturing content ecosystem.”
The imminent rollout of 4G LTE services is also expected to boost usage. In markets that introduced 4G, data consumption often increased by up to four times on average. Girotra adds that the rapid evolution of the device ecosystem, coupled with declining device prices, offers significant growth opportunities for operators launching and expanding 4G LTE networks.
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