(By Anand Srinivasan)
In a report released by Opera software, India has been ranked among the top three in terms of internet access from mobile browsers. India ranks behind Russia and Indonesia. China and Ukraine make up the top five list. United States ranks sixth overall. The report is based on the usage statistics obtained from Opera’s ‘mini’ browser for the month of June 2009.
Among the key highlights of the report are the staggering 357.8% growth rate year-on-year for the month of June 2009. The unique users have grown by 32.5% since June 2008. Indian users seem to browse much more on the move compared to their counterparts in USA and UK as shown by the average monthly page views of 375 per user. The corresponding numbers for USA and UK are 223 and 221 respectively.
Google properties (Google, Orkut and Gmail) continue to grab the top three most popular sites on the mobile web. One month after its inclusion for the first time in the top 10 list, Facebook has moved one position to number 7. While the new search deal will be watched as it grows.
What this study confirms is the huge potential in India when it comes to the mobile web and mobile related services. Unlike the Internet, penetration has grown by leaps and bounds on the mobile space and though a majority of mobile phones are still entry-level editions, the increased penetration has provided a tremendous platform for network providers to offer high end services like internet/GPRS at more competitive rates and that seems to be working as a win-win situation for both network providers and subscribers.
