India is poised to have over 907 million internet users by 2023 according to the new Cisco Annual Internet Report. This accounts for around 64 per cent of the total population of the country. It has based these forecasts upon independent analyst forecasts and its own intellectual property.
According to the report, the number of devices and connections are growing faster than the rate of the population at 7 per cent CAGR compared to 1 per cent. It states that the growing number of M2M applications like smart meters, video surveillance, healthcare monitoring and more are contributing in a major way to the growth of devices and connections. It states that the number of M2M connections by 2023 will have a 25 per cent share in the number of total devices and connections.
Social networking, video streaming, business productivity, e-commerce and gaming will drive the growth of mobile applications, with combined downloads of 46.2 billion by 2023 in India. 17.8 billion downloads will account for social networking, messaging, media, productivity and e-commerce apps. 10.5 billion gaming apps and 17.9 billion other apps.
Apart from this, the report states that a total of 966 million mobile users will be there in the country by 2023, up from 763 million in 2018.
India will have a total of 2.1 billion networked devices by 2023, out of which 1.4 billion will be mobile connected devices and 697.4 million wired/Wi-Fi connected devices. Smartphones will account for 38 per cent of all networked devices, with connected TVs accounting for 12 per cent.
2023 will see a fall in the number of consumer segment networked devices from 83 per cent in 2018 to 78 per cent in 2023.
The report states that there will be a 67.2 million total 5G connections by 2023, 4G connections will take the maximum share of the pie at 53.1 per cent and 3G or below will have a share of 38.7 per cent.