Nearly 46% of internet users in India consume content in local languages : Aruna Sundararajan

There are over 355 million monthly active internet users in India, where nearly 109 million smartphones were shipped in 2016 Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Department of Telecommunications today said.

She said that "Nearly 46 percent of internet users in India consume content in local languages."

In the first quarter of 2017, 27 million smartphones were shipped. Most Indians used the internet on their mobile phones (80 percent usage was on mobile as compared to the global average of 50 percent). The most used browser in India was UC Browser, followed by Chrome and Opera. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Shareit, Truecaller and Facebook are the most used apps in India.

She informed that by December this year the first phase of BharatNet will be complete. This would provide 100,000-gram panchayats with broadband connectivity by laying underground optic fiber cable lines and Department of Telecom is aggressively monitoring the prestigious BharatNet initiative that aims to provide Internet connectivity to 2.5 lakh gram panchayats or village blocks by March 2019.

The entire project, when complete, is expected to give a fillip to reaching out e-commerce services, including e-governance, education and television services to far-flung areas of the country.

The DoT Secretary said that fabrication was a national imperative and the government, industry, and chambers of commerce needed to work in coalition to achieve the objective of doubling the telecom footprint in the country by 2020.