India’s stupendous Internet growth is down to two major factors—Primarily, the launch of Reliance Jio, which brought Internet access prices down from Rs 250/GB to ~Rs 10/GB, and led to the shift from 2G straight to 4G for most Indians. Secondly, Net Neutrality, which ensured that telcos compete on the basis of the service provided, and not create walled gardens of apps.
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Now, that growth is slowing down. This is largely because urban India has high Internet penetration, with some cities with over 100% connections, so there’s saturation there. In rural India, there’s still room to grow beyond ~35% Internet penetration, but that will only come when we have more of an Indian language interface for most apps, devices remain affordable, and, most importantly, the economic situation in rural parts of India improves. The growth of Internet access can perhaps be seen as one of the indicators for the state of the economy in that region and district.
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