Introduction

Background

Barriers

Rural Barriers

Airtel
iCreate
Challa

User Base

Case on
General
Management
Shailesh J Mehta School of Management
Studies
Team Samarpan
Ankita Kamble

Akshay Sagar

Introduction

Background

Barriers

The mobile internet trends

in India are on a steady
rise as foreseen by the
experts.

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
2014

2015

Mobile Internet
Mobile Subscribers

2016
Smartphone

Subscriber base
300
200
100
0

User Base

Background

Mobile trends

Rural Barriers

2014

2015
Rural

Urban

2016

The smartphone market is

also on a growing stage.
India is the 3rd largest
smartphone market in the
world. With over 185
million smart phone
connections which are
expected to reach the half
a billion mark by 2020.
India is the most
competitive of the 20
largest markets in Asia
Pacific. Divided into 22
telecom zones (circles)
with 12 network providers

Usage purpose
6%

5%
27%

14%

12%
20%
18%

Entertainment
Online Services
Social Networking
Online Finance

Communication
eCommerce
Rural needs

Introduction

Background

Digital Literacy

78
%

Women

60
%
Men

- Women are 36% less likely to use a mobile

phone (114 million women)

Barriers

Rural Barriers

User Base

Wifi
Majority of the urban
prefers using wifi at their
homes and workplaces in
place of traditional mobile
connections. WiFi is more
reliable and is a cheaper alternative.

Perception
- A majority finds mobile internet
to be a luxury than a necessity
and would rather spend
elsewhere.
- 360 million people (a 3rd of
Indias population is below the
poverty line.

Towers

- Need over 200,000 additional

towers over the existing 400,000 to
serve needs properly

Access to Mobiles

Yes; 40%
No; 60%

Mobile money account

Yes

2.4
%

6%

India

Pakistan

Spectrum
- Lack of sufficient bandwidth
and the high cost involved
with procuring it

No

Number of
players
- There are 12
telecom operators in
India making it one of
the most competitive
3
markets.

Introduction

Background

Barriers

RURAL BARRIERS
Lack of Awareness
People are still unaware and
unfamiliar with internet and its
various applications. Most people
consider it a luxury and have not
tried to make use of its various
functionalities. Internet is
considered a source of
entertainment by many but that is
a very narrow description.
SOLUTION:
The awareness level of people
needs to be focused on. People
need to be introduced to the world
of internet to show them the
possibilities and opportunities it
provides. Plans with the

Rural Barriers

User Base

Language
India is a diverse country and has a
multitude of languages. Every
person feels comfortable in using
the internet and their phones in
their languages. Not everyone is
familiar with English or Hindi which
are the two major preset languages
in the phones and most online
interfaces.

Infrastructure
Since the areas are
regarded as undeserved
due to low returns, there is
limited input to improving
infrastructure in these
areas.

SOLUTION:
TIPA estimates that India
needs 200,000 towers to
SOLUTION:
meet the upcoming
Subscribers need a care package
demand. To meet this high
intended to keep them engrossed
demand, the companies
and informed. Providing support
need to start sharing
and solutions in their preferred
towers in order to reach a
Local content
languages.
viable solution
Due to the diversity in regions and language, the same content
would not cater to the needs of all the consumers. The consumers
need to be targeted on basis of their locality and region to offer
tailored content to suit their needs and keep them interested. This
would also promote regional languages and integrity.
4

Introduction

Background

Barriers

Rural Barriers

User Base

Reaching the 500 million mark

Some of the strategies that can be implemented to aim for the 500 million mark are:
- Corporate houses can introduce programs like BYOD (Bring you own device) in offices to promote
usage of mobile phones.
- Employees can carryout all the redundant tasks on the go using these programs that make work
related content available on mobile phones, it will save time and effort and make the tasks coherent
and convenient
-Campaigns should be carried out by NGOs with the government to spread awareness of the benefits of
going digital
- Hubs can be setup to educate the masses about the benefits of the digitization and therefore the
importance of internet.
- Digital inclusiveness can be attained by building infrastructure in the undeserved areas thereby
making the services available to masses, a majority of which is still to feel the presence of mobile
internet in their day to day lives.
-With the onset of IOT the connectivity and availability of services will increase multi fold. To be able to
use these services better network coverage with speeds should be attained.
-More than 90% of the villages dont have bank accounts. These markets can be targeted to increase