India ranked sixth in the South Asian region in the Pulse Internet Resilience Index (IRI) released by the non-profit Internet Society in the first week of August.
According to the index that contains data from 170 countries, India ranks behind its neighbours Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal but is ahead of Pakistan.
India’s Internet Resilience
According to the index, with an overall internet resilience of 43 per cent, India ranks sixth in South Asia.
IRI calculates internet resilience across the four parameters of infrastructure, performance, security, and market readiness.
India scored 31 per cent in infrastructure, 40 per cent in performance, 66 per cent in security, and 35 per cent in market readiness.
The report shows that India has good mobile connectivity with 81 per cent network coverage, adding to its infrastructure score. However, it is hampered by the cable ecosystem and poor enabling infrastructure.
It mentions, “India’s security is ranked above average, attributed to having the highest IPv6 (the newest Internet Protocol to accommodate growing networks) adoption in the world.”
India achieved an overall score of 43 per cent in the Internet Resilience Index (IRI), ranking sixth in the South Asian region.https://t.co/1ysMdlXRBj#InternetResilienceIndex #IRI #InternetSociety #IPv6Adoption #SouthAsia #IndiaRanking #SecurityScore #Awazthevoice
— Awaz-The Voice (@AwazThevoice) August 9, 2023
The report further highlights that India’s mobile coverage is far greater than its fixed network coverage.
India’s market readiness score shows that the Indian market structure provides immense affordability (87 per cent) but an abysmal domain count (3 per cent).
The report says, “Market readiness — the ability of India’s Internet market to self-regulate and provide affordability — is ranked comparatively poorly.”
India Lags Behind Bhutan, Bangladesh
In Asia, Southern Asia has an overall resilience of 43 per cent.
Bhutan leads the region with 58 per cent, followed by Bangladesh (51 per cent), Maldives (50 per cent), Sri Lanka (47 per cent), Nepal (43 per cent) and India (43 per cent).
Further, Pakistan is ranked below India (7th in the region), with 35 per cent resilience, while Afghanistan is the last with 30 per cent.
India’s ranking is close to China, which has 45 per cent overall resilience.
The Internet plays a critical role in our society. But to be reliable, the local Internet must be resilient in the face of faults and challenges. How resilient is your country’s Internet? Find out ⤵️ https://t.co/8Icy2Lg3BD
— Internet Society (@internetsociety) August 4, 2023
Continental/Global Figures
At the continental level, overall resilience is maximum for Europe at 60 per cent and the lowest for Africa at 36 per cent.
Meanwhile, Asia has a resilience of 46 per cent and the score for the Americas and Oceania is 45 per cent each.
According to the report, Iceland and Switzerland have the best overall resilience globally at 73 per cent, while Syria ranks last with 20 per cent.
Internet in India
A joint report released by industry body IAMAI and market data analytics firm Kantar in May said that, for the first time, more than half of Indians (759 million) are active internet users now.
While the country rolled out 5G services in October 2022, the urban-rural divide in the country is stark, with 31 per cent of rural Indians using the internet as opposed to 67 per cent of people in urban areas using it.
Additionally, concerns regarding frequent internet shutdowns in the country are on the rise, with India being the leading shutdown offender in Asia for the last five years in a row.