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Indians are taking to the world wide web in a big way, outpacing the US and China in terms of online population. The total online population, aged over 15 years accessing the net, in India rose 7.8 per cent to 18.02 million in June, from 16.71 million in March. The growth in the country's online population outscores the rise of 2.7 per cent in the world's online audience size, which rose 713 million in June, from 694 million in March this year. A look at the unfolding revolution. The internet is certainly a major phenomenon in India today. Everywhere one looks, the signs of its arrival and adoption are visible. In fact it is being universally recognised that as the internet proliferates, so will applications riding on internet like E-governance, ECommerce, and E-Learning etc. Though a miniscule amount in the global context, the Indian online population is making its presence felt quite remarkably. With a population of more than one billion and internet penetration at about 18.02 million users, the unexploited potential of India's Internet market seems huge. India has become the ninth biggest country in terms of the total online population from its 10th position three months ago. Interestingly, the figures exclude the traffic from public computers such as cyber cafes and access from mobile phones or PDAs. The total number of people accessing internet could be much higher if those aged below 15 years and the public computer data and new-age mediums such as mobiles and PDAs are also taken into consideration. Though the US still continues to have the highest online population across the world of 153 million -- accounted for 21 per cent of the all worldwide unique visitors, India also shares 2.5 per cent of the world's total. Reasons for slow growth of internet During the first three years of VSNL monopoly, the internet subscriber base grew very slowly. By the end of March 1998, it had barely reached 140,000 subscribers. The end of VSNL's monopoly changed things dramatically wherein, the entry of private players, unlimited and open competition, and the lowering of tariffs, among other factors, led to the phenomenal surge in the subscriber base growth. The Government has been propelling India towards the 'Information Age' and 'Convergence' by announcing enabling policies toward development and progress with an ultimate goal of 'Internet for All'. However, the implementation of some of these policies is beset with various operational, procedural & regulatory issues and supporting legal framework, which is inhibiting the reach and benefit of internet to the masses in the country. Ensuring growth It has been widely recognised that the diffusion of the internet and its associated applications can fuel the growth of a nation's economy. Internet significantly facilitates the process of development of the nations and its citizens in all respects, be it economic, social, or cultural. However, it must be noted that for sustaining such applications and internet as a whole there must be a critical mass of internet users. It is therefore very important to encourage the internet growth and usage. To achieve this goal we should recognise that one of the most significant factors influencing the growth of internet is the cost to consumers for internet access and improvement in quality of service. Other measures to hasten up this growth binge further include adopting a flat rate tariff structure for calls made to access internet, encourage cost effective wireless access systems for internet access to facilitate connectivity in areas where access is otherwise difficult to provide, popularising the usage of inexpensive access devices for internet, proliferation of effective computer based education at the school and university level, increase the tele-density particularly in remote / under-developed and rural areas, encourage setting up of cyber café / internet kiosks by offering infrastructural facilities at subsidised cost, tax incentives to consumers for using online services and institute measures.
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