Fully literate state has highest smartphone penetration

God's own country is also a paradise for data. The fully literate state tucked away at the southern end of the country has recorded the highest penetration of smartphones at 65% even as more than half - 53% precisely -- of the total mobile phone users in India still do with feature phones.

Apart from Kerala, six more states -- Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu -- have smartphone penetration at over 50%, while others have a long way to catch up.

Bihar and Assam lay at the bottom of the list with 30% and 27% smartphone penetration respectively.

The findings are based on the data till March 31, according to a report by Cyber Media Research released on Wednesday.

Mobile phone users have increasingly started using smartphones with the advent of high-speed 4G services. The transition from the old-fashioned feature phones to the trendy smartphones picked up momentum after the entry of Reliance Jio, which initially gave its 4G services free of cost. Even now, RJio's services are available at a minimum cost with free voice calls and 1GB/2GB data everyday.

The intensified data consumption has also stirred up the smartphone market in the country.

Mahesh Uppal, a telecom analyst, says there has been a massive jump in data consumption, post the launch of Jio. But India has a long way to go, since less 30% of the people use data services.

At present, around 60-70% of mobile devices are feature phones, which are basic phones with minimal data usage capacity. The biggest challenges in adoption of smartphones have been higher cost and digital illiteracy. Another problem is the lack of content in regional languages.

"The situation will improve, but it is a long journey. Only a few have access to the internet. Not all are regular users. The number includes even users who access internet once a month or occasionally use Whatsapp. Improving access is a collaborative effort -- telecom players, content providers, device manufacturers are all working to enhance affordability and pervasiveness of internet access," he said.

According to available data, there are about 238 million 4G subscribers in India. It is expected that by 2020, 35% of the 4G subscribers would be using a feature phone, taking the overall 4G subscriber count to 432 million in India.

Incumbents including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular have been aggressively expanding their 4G network to retain as well as attract new users, following the entry of RJio. Service providers have also come up with discounted offers and new plans in a bid to remain competitive. This is bound to increase the growth in entry level smartphones in the near future as people start using data services for the first time.

...& ANALYSIS

• 30% and 27% smartphone penetration in Bihar and Assam
   
• 60-70% of mobile devices are feature phones at present
   
• 4G technology is boosting the use of mobile phones