Jio Freebies ushers in mobile data revolution in India
The massive commercial gamble played by Mukesh Ambani to conquer the pole position in India’s booming telecom market, via his ambitious project Jio Telecom, is reaping huge benefits for his company. A recent comprehensive study by SmartApp on the availability of data connections, speeds and insights into behavioural patterns of Indian mobile Internet users, reveals that Jio is leaving its competitors well behind, in all telecom business sectors.
- Jio Communications: Its Impact and Beyond
Per the study, in fact, the impact of Jio is well beyond traditional statistical metrics, as its revolutionary pricing plans has resulted in the generation of a whole new paradigm of Internet surfing forms, forums and habits. This focus on “mobile first Internet” that the Jio era ushered in, may change the entire digital landscape of the country.
The study further reveals that of all the Indians that own 4G mobile phones currently, nearly 425 of them use Jio Telecom as their data network, compared to a corresponding figure of 17.54% for those using AirTel, 12.26% for Vodafone and 11.50% for Idea. This news is not something completely out of the blue, as reportedly, Jio’s commercial onslaught has eaten into at least 54% of its biggest competitor, AirTel’s profits. This is all but natural, considering Jio is still offering its 4G data plans for free to its consumers.
The advent of Jio on the scene has also dynamically changed Indian internet usage behavioural patterns. The quantity of data being accessed on mobile phones stands at a whopping 6.54 GB per month for Jio users, easily the highest in the country when compared to corresponding networks like AirTel (1.28 GB per month), Vodafone (1.29 GB per month) and Idea (1.3 GB per month). In urban locations, an overall increase of 6 GB is completed by a surge of 5 GB 4G data in rural areas. A lead of over three times in comparative data consumption showcases a major spike in the use of Jio Telecom by Indian customers, a behavioural pattern which might be difficult to retain after the end of the free trials by Jio.
- Advent of Jio: Trend Changer in Internet Usage
Gaurav Sarin, the Chief Operating Officer of SmartApp opined that the biggest encouraging signs of a digitally inclusive and accessible India of the future are these early trends of a “Mobile First Digital India” with increasing internet usage coupled with thriving amounts of data consumption.
One of the more interesting takeaways from the study is that there is a higher consumption of data in social media apps as compared to video apps. A 467% surge was seen in data usage on social media as opposed to a corresponding increase of 336% when it comes to video streaming apps. From this, it can be safely concluded that mobile Internet users are exhibiting a trend of preferring social media websites like Twitter and Facebook for their video streaming purposes, rather than more traditional online platforms like YouTube. Other avenues that witnessed a massive increase in mobile data consumption include news, entertainment, games, sports and music among others.
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