Tag: india mobile technology

Google launches free WiFi for Mumbai commuters

The Mumbai Central Train Station in India will now allow smartphone and tablet users to connect toll-free.

Google has now launched a free WiFi service at the Mumbai Central Train Station in India, which will allow passengers to be able to use their mobile devices to connect to the internet at no cost.

Upon the initial roll out, everyone from train passengers to vendors at the station shops were logging on.

Though that one Mumbai train station is the first to receive the free WiFi from Google, it won’t be the last. The plan is to connect 400 stations in order to considerably expand the reach of the company throughout the country. The initial impression that passengers were expressing was quite a positive one, as they used their smartphones and tablets to keep connected and occupied as they waited for their trains. According to Divya Patel, a student who was waiting to head home to Gujurat from Mumbai, “If my train is leaving, and I need to search, don’t know where to go, then immediately I will get the answer.” She also added that “This is very good, and good for everyone.”

This free WiFi is meant to be highly appealing in a country where there are 6 million new monthly internet users.

Free WiFi - GoogleThe population of India is a tremendous 1.25 billion. As this market experiences an exceptional growth in the number of people who are connecting to the internet, tech giants are paying close attention to the potential this offers them in mobile technology and related services. Google isn’t the only player that has been working to connect with this market, as other giants such as Microsoft and Facebook, in addition to eBay and Amazon have been trying to gain the attention of Indian consumers.

Of course, Western companies aren’t the only ones tapping into the mobile technology boom in India. There are also a number of e- and m-commerce companies from within India that have been reaching out to the population. While it’s true that they are notably smaller than the western corporations, they are experiencing their own significant growth due to the sheer size of the market and its opportunity.

There are over 23 million people who ride trains in India every day, and Google is hoping to appeal to those commuters by adding its free WiFi to the stations where those individuals spend a great deal of time waiting.

Mobile trends in India include massive 1 billion users

The country’s cell phone market has now broken through that tremendous milestone.

The latest data with regards to the mobile trends in India have now been released and have shown that from September to October 2015, there was a 0.7 percent increase in the ownership of cell phones, bringing that country over the billion user mark to reach 1.03 billion device users.

This fascinating insight was released very recently by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

Now that India has reached this milestone in its mobile trends, it has become the second country in the world to have achieved it (the first one having been China). The population of the country is about three times that of the United States and it has recently become a vital new market for smartphones and other mobile devices. Though there are only four major carriers for mobile service in the United States, India boasts a dozen that are all competing to obtain contract subscribers.

Due to the massive mobile trends for competition in the country, subscribers pay some of the lowest bills in the world.

Mobile Trends - A billion UsersA number of factors, including the tremendous competition in India for customers has made sure that Indian mobile device users are paying some of the lowest monthly charges on the planet. This massive and rapidly growing and evolving market has also presented opportunities to companies from other countries. Virtually every corner of the globe is looking at India’s market and is hoping to try to carve out their own segment of it for themselves.

Though the insight from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India includes all types of cell phone, another important mobile technology trend currently underway in the country is the adoption of smartphones. While the United States continues to be one of the top markets for the very high-end and flagship devices from manufacturers, Asia is a haven for entry-level and mid-range devices.

As people in India hop on the mobile trends for replacing basic cell phones and feature phones with smartphones, manufacturers have been scrambling to offer consumers across the country the type of deals and opportunities that will encourage them to choose them over the competition.