India had 162.04 million wireless and wireline broadband connections at the end of June 2016, registering an increase of 8.2% over a three month period, according to the data released by India’s telecom regulator TRAI. Between April and June 2016, total broadband connections in urban India grew by 8.7% and by 6.5% in rural areas. But even as broadband expands its reach in the country, the number of narrowband connections are nearly 16% higher than the number of broadband connections. India defines narrowband as internet connections with download speeds less than 512 kbps, while the connections with download speeds faster than 512 kbps are classified as broadband. Some observations: 1. Delhi had the highest number broadband connections in urban areas with 12.55 million followed by Tamil Nadu with 12.14 million connections and Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) with 11.57 million connections. 2. Andhra Pradesh had the highest number of broadband connections in rural areas with 3.73 million followed by Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) with 3.55 million connections and Tamil Nadu with 3.21 million connections. 3. Overall, Tamil Nadu has the highest number of broadband connections in the country with 15.35 million connections. Maharashtra (excluding Mumbai) is at the second spot with 15.12 million connections followed by Delhi with 13.02 million connections. 4. Broadband connections in hilly states such as Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and the North East including Assam is still very low with a total of just 7.25 million connections. 5. Madhya Pradesh added the highest number of broadband connections in rural areas with 0.41 million connections between April…
