India is now the top country in terms of data consumption. The average monthly data usage per subscriber has increased to 1.6GB in September 2017, as compared to 70MB three years ago. The massive data consumption is due to the strong growth in subscriber base and affordable tariff plans from telecom operators in the country.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has conveyed this news to Lok Sabha. He also said that there had been a significant growth in adoption of digital payments and electronic delivery of services.
"(As per Trai), the average data usage per subscriber per month was at 70.10MB in June 2014. This grew to 1600MB in September 2017," Prasad said in a reply to Lok Sabha.
He also added that the total internet subscriber base also increased from 259.14 million in June 2014 to 429.23 million in September 2017. The current 429 million subscriber base also includes that of rural areas.
The Minister also revealed that the total wireless subscriber base reached to 1.18 billion, and out of that 498.28 million are from rural areas. This data is from Trai up to September 2017.
"The number of digital payment transactions per month has increased from 60.7 crores in December 2015 to 153 crores in October 2017," he further noted.
According to Prasad, Common Services Centres (CSCs) are making sure in taking digital services to every corner of India, especially in rural areas.
A total of 2,71,311 CSCs were active in the country and transacting for delivery of e-services across the country. Out of the said CSCs, 1.73 lakh were at Gram Panchayat level. This data is up to November 30, 2017.
He concluded that the number of e-transactions as captured on e-Taal (Electronic Transaction Aggregation and Analysis Layer) portal had seen a massive rise from 251 crores in 2013 to more than 3013 crores in 2017.
