Although 127 million Indian mobile users have devices that are Internet-ready, only 12 million have accessed the Internet using their handsets during the past year, and only 2 million use mobile Internet services at least once a month, according to research conducted for the IAMAI by market research firm IMRB International.
Not surprisingly, the main users of mobile Internet services in India are young people. College students and young men aged between 18 and 35 account for 35 percent and 33 percent of those active users respectively, while schoolchildren account for a further 11 percent.
During the past few months, Indian operators have launched many services targeting the youth market.
Bharti Airtel Ltd., the largest operator in India with a subscriber base of 116 million at the end of November 2009, launched a Twitter Inc. service for its subscribers last October. The operator recently published the results of its own mobile usage survey.
