Addressing a conference "Mobile Web Initiative in India" organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and W3C India, Shri Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and IT, Ministry of Communications and IT said, "Internet is still not open, accessible and user friendly to a major chunk of our population due to lack of regional language support. Indian entrepreneurs should look at this untapped market as this opportunity might not be available two years from now."
According to Shri Pilot, "Mobile penetration in India is over 800 million with around 53% of it in rural India. This captive consumer, in the days to come, will be accessing internet from their handhelds. The time has come to create local language content applications so that people in rural India can easily access information and entertainment." The Government of India is spending Rs.20,000 crore to lay optic fibre so that all panchayats across the country are connected.
The growth of Mobile Internet in India has direct relation to literacy rate. J. Satyanarayana, Secretary - IT, Ministry of Communications and IT, said, "Mobile penetration in India is over 800 million, but penetration of internet is only 15%. On the other side, literacy rate in English is less than 20%, whereas literacy rate in the Indian languages is around 50%. Hence, the next big thing is the evolution of Mobile Internet in local languages."
