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India has the highest data usage per smartphone

thehindu.com

211–220 of 262 posts

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#211
post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe Aadhar is mandatory if you're filing tax in India[1]. And the government earlier in the year passed a bill to undo some of the supreme court protections and facilitate sharing of Aadhar data with third parties[2]. So unless you're too poor to file taxes (or are not an Indian resident), bank accounts can always be linked to Aadhar, even if it happens via the PAN. [1] https://qz.com/india/1351263/supreme-cour…

You're moving goal posts. Aadhar being necessary for tax filing !== Aadhar is mandatory for operating a bank account, claims which you made in previous posts. Yes, going backwards government can indeed find your bank accounts because you might quote them on tax forms but having Aadhar is NOT necessary for operating a bank account. I have multiple accounts, none of which have been closed or service being denied for la…

Also I am pretty sure government can find all of your bank accounts without Aadhar, using a court order.

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#212
post #140

Americans are going to be livid when they learn how cheap data plans are in India. The reason this works is free market, unlike the US where the likes of Comcast have monopoly in the regions they operate. Hasan Minhaj did a show this week on Netflix, you should watch it - he explains pretty well how horrible Comcast like companies are.

Next up americans are going to be angry about how much cheaper rent, food and services are cheaper in india too!

They aren't the standard purchasing power differences, it's literally orders of magnitude cheaper.

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#213

I'm from India. I can confirm this. It's because unlimited LTE data costs about rs700 per month or 10 dollars. It can be spotty at times - but it works. Mobile is by far the most used form factor. Search for "Jio" on your app store and you'll see a variety of apps like JioTV, JioCinema, JioNews etc.. That means free news, live tv and movies all for the price of a cell phone subscription. Jio is the name of the servic…

It also depends in the regular income. YouTube music costs $10 per month, I would have never paid that when I was in India, where I could just skip the ad & the cost of data for video YouTube is not much. About 3GBs daily, for Rs 284 for two months, or about $4 total, 4G where available, 3G other places. Before Jio launch, the data cost were same without the word DAily, so about $4 for 3 GB TOTAL in a month.

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#214
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actually, most plans are way cheaper than that. Most people I know are on a $9 or $10 prepaid plan for three months of unlimited calls, messages and 2GB/day. Which providers?

Airtel, Vodafone.

Jio has INR349($5 USD) plan which gives 84 days of unlimited calling with 1.5GB data per data. For 399, less than $USD8 you get 2GB per day. Airtel also has a similar plan. This is fueling the data revolution

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#216
post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Actually, most plans are way cheaper than that. Most people I know are on a $9 or $10 prepaid plan for three months of unlimited calls, messages and 2GB/day. Which providers?

Airtel, Vodafone.

Thanks, will check those out.

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#217
post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Airtel, Vodafone.

Jio has INR349($5 USD) plan which gives 84 days of unlimited calling with 1.5GB data per data. For 399, less than $USD8 you get 2GB per day. Airtel also has a similar plan. This is fueling the data revolution

Thanks.

>1.5GB data per data.

Guess you mean per day.

Right, have tried this one.

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So unlimited data for less then the equivalent of $60 US dollars?

Yeah like $10 or even cheaper.

GP is asking about unlimited data, not unlimited calls. I am not sure Jio or any other provider gives that for such a low rate as you mention, although they may give it for a higher rate (not sure). Also, not sure if the FUP (Fair Use Policy) is still in place (informally called by users by another #### name).

Re: India has the highest data usage per smartphone

#220

Jio revolution is the main reason for this, after Jio almost every other vendor is giving you 30Gb(1Gb per day) for $5-6 , no wonder, there is a %30-40 utilization of data. Majority of this utilization would be on Streaming, Torrent downloads etc etc, Also to note that , many of the calls made in India are VOLTE calls..

Jio is fascinating. I once held a talk at an event where their Interim CISO Karsten Nohl was also speaking. The way Jio was built and what challenges they faced trying to build a gigantic mobile operator from scratch and building it secure from day one are a story i'd like to read a book about, but I'm already glad he held a talk about it. The most interesting part was their realization that there was nearly no "new…

Gigantic is right, often, when it comes to telecom.

Some years ago I worked on a Unix/C/Oracle software project for VSNL, a public sector or quasi-government entity that was India's telecom carrier to/from abroad (V for the word Videsh, which means foreign country in Hindi). Worked onsite in their office in Mumbai, near the (Arabian) Sea coast, where international telecom cables probably come in. There was a huge telecom switch installed there. It was like the size of several really high refrigerators pushed together. First time I had seen one. Some Oriental-looking engineers were working on it (could have been from some Japanese company like Fujitsu or whatever, which might have been into that line of products - switches). I asked our VSNL contact there what the thing was, and he said it was the main telecom switch for connectivity between the outside world and India, and cost about INR 200 crore (IIRC).

INR 200 crore in USD (today's rates):

https://www.google.com/search?q=INR+200+crore+in+USD

Works out to about USD 28 million for that switch.

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