Almost the first thing shared as I arrived home this evening was that some 60% of the Internet connections in India were out of commission due to a cut cable. This news item, confirmed by a quick check of the story on the Reuters site, prompted a more general exchange about what percent of the population of that country might be deprived by this problem. In my brash manner, I suggested that but as handful of Delhi residents would be affected, and then acknowledged that all those tele- and call center workers in Bombay would probably also be on coffee break, but still no more than 10 percent of the population.
All this led to a quick search for basic penetration figures, and Google helped me find a half dozen sources more reliable than my evening conversation guesses.
In all respects, it seems, India is the mushrooming economy we imagined, but Internet penetration remains limited to a very small percentage of the population. One of the studies below, Internet World Stats, notes 3.7% households online during 2007. With this in mind, the connection crisis can be seen as serious for something like two percent of the ca. 1.3 billion people living in that country…all meant to place world connectivity into some kind of perspective….
No comments:
Post a Comment