Mobile overtakes fixed-line web in India

It’s finally happened, ahead of schedule too. More people in India now access the web via mobile than fixed-line access.

The latest data from tech research company StatCounter suggest that 56% of the country’s population now accesses the web via mobile, versus 45% who access it via desktop.

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Mobile vs. Desktop Market Share

Back in May, StatCounter’s figures suggested that we would reach this point by the end of this year.

That large numbers of Indians are using their phones to go online isn’t surprising when you consider the prohibitive cost of broadband, and the relative affordability of phones in the country.

Despite the rapid upsurge in sales of internet-connected mobile devices (fueled by affordable handsets such as the Asha and tablets such as the Akash) internet penetration in the BRICS giant remains pretty low at around 10%. That’s because a large number of these connected devices remain un-affordable to India’s massive, but still largely poor population.

Barring a complete financial meltdown, that situation will however improve. As connectivity becomes more ubiquitous, it will become cheaper too.

As The Next Web notes, measuring the web and mobile is still an imprecise science and StatCounter’s may not be 100% accurate.

That said, it does compile data from over 15-billion page views (unique visitors may provide a more accurate picture) taken from three-million pages that subscribe to its service.