(more charts in our Mobile Internet in India report for July-2015) Reliance Communications (RCOM) has reported 35.4 million mobile Internet connections for the quarter ended June 20th 2015 (Q1-FY16), up 5% from 33.7 million mobile Internet connections in the previous quarter, and 23.8% from the same quarter last year. Note that RCOM had started culling incidental mobile Internet users from the previous quarter, due to which its mobile Internet base had dropped to 26.7 million in Q4-FY14 from 36.3 million in Q3-FY14. Incidental data users are users who have consumed less than 1 MB/month. This followed a similar move from Idea Cellular in Q3-FY14 and Airtel in Q1-FY15. Idea Cellular now only includes those users who consume more than 10 MB/month. 3G connections surpass 2G Internet connections RCOM’s 3G connection base has surpassed its 2G mobile Internet connection base, and it is probably the only telecom operator for which this has happened. RCOM reported a total 3G connection base of 17.9 million for the quarter, up from 17.4 million in the previous quarter. The 2G connection base also increased 17.5 million, from 16.3 million in the previous quarter. RCOM is now adding more 2G users than before, after a few slow quarters. It’s also worth noting that Airtel’s 3G connection base for Q1-Fy16 was higher than that of RCOM’s 3G connection base with 21.36 million 3G connections at the end of the quarter. Airtel has the largest 3G connection base in the industry. Mobile Internet data - 2G mobile Internet connection were at 17.5 million for the quarter, up from 17.4 million in the previous quarter. - Around 51% of RCOM’s total…
