Hi guys,
I'm flagging off a new initiative - General Knowledge nuggets (I was tempted to called them General Nuggets, but the comparisons to Colonel Sanders KFC would be too much for me to not comment on every time) [Yes, another lame joke, but you should be used to that by now ;)]
Anyway, back to the topic - so I'd like to share some nuggets of general knowledge once a week with you guys. The aim is to build your general knowledge with some basic information on a different topic every week. This would be written in simple language and would be accompanied with some basic and easy to remember statistics. The idea is not to prepare you for "Kaun banega crorepati/Who wants to be a millionaire" or any other game show but instead to give you fodder to strike up a thought provoking conversation with friends, family, colleagues - heck, even strangers in the train, bus, plane, etc.
I'll share this info every Sunday, and if you'd like me to message it to your mobile number, leave me a comment and I'll add you to my broadcast list on WhatsApp.
Here's this week's bite:
I'm flagging off a new initiative - General Knowledge nuggets (I was tempted to called them General Nuggets, but the comparisons to Colonel Sanders KFC would be too much for me to not comment on every time) [Yes, another lame joke, but you should be used to that by now ;)]
Anyway, back to the topic - so I'd like to share some nuggets of general knowledge once a week with you guys. The aim is to build your general knowledge with some basic information on a different topic every week. This would be written in simple language and would be accompanied with some basic and easy to remember statistics. The idea is not to prepare you for "Kaun banega crorepati/Who wants to be a millionaire" or any other game show but instead to give you fodder to strike up a thought provoking conversation with friends, family, colleagues - heck, even strangers in the train, bus, plane, etc.
I'll share this info every Sunday, and if you'd like me to message it to your mobile number, leave me a comment and I'll add you to my broadcast list on WhatsApp.
Here's this week's bite:
India's Telecom industry:
You're out shopping and decide to stop for a bite at the mall's food court. Half way through your meal you hear the familiar ring of your iPhone and you scramble for it only to realise that it isn't ringing after all. Only then do you realise that the ringing phone belongs to the guy on the next table, who's chatting away to glory, oblivious to your chagrin. You turn your attention back to your meal and mumble under your breath, "How many people in India have mobile phones?"
Well, India is home to over a billion mobile subscribers and more than a fifth of those are smartphone users. (Now I bet you're wondering, "India has a population of 1.3 billion people and we have more than 1 billion mobile phones. Does that mean that almost all the villagers have a mobile?")
Well, no & yes.
Well, no & yes.
No, because this is the total number of mobile connections (not the number of people with mobile connections), which includes internet dongles, SIMs in iPads and tablets and let's face it, a lot of people have 2 or more mobiles today.
But in a way yes, because according to the Telecom Regulator - TRAI, out of the total subscriber base, the divide between rural and urban India is not high, putting rest to the argument that the mobile revolution is only an urban phenomenon. (Cities [Urban India] accounted for 57% connections; Villages [Rural India] accounted for 43%)
Having just gone past the US with a count of 220 million smartphones, India is now the second largest ‘smartphone’ using country in the world, after China -which is the largest.
More and more people are using their mobiles to listen to music, play games, connect on social media and especially to watch videos.
Currently 39% of all data usage is in the form of videos, which Cisco’s Visual Networking Index projects will grow to 67% by 2020.
Currently 39% of all data usage is in the form of videos, which Cisco’s Visual Networking Index projects will grow to 67% by 2020.
India's top 3 mobile operators, by subscriber base, are Airtel, Vodafone & Idea Cellular.