Smartphone users in India spend 47 <g data-gr-id="50">per cent</g> of their time on communication applications such as WhatsApp, We Chat, Hike and Skype which are <g data-gr-id="33">key</g> driver of mobile broadband usage, says a report.
"Communication continues to be the dominant activity on smartphones. Communication apps are 'always on' and are a key driver of mobile broadband usage," the report by Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson said. "As per our report, Indians spend 47 per cent of time using communications apps such as voice, instant messaging, voice over internet protocol (example Skype), emails and social networking on smartphones," Ericsson said.
The report said communication apps have a higher dependency on mobile broadband usage, due to their 'always on' status. The report analysed app usage behaviour using on-device measurements across several markets, including India, with a particular focus on how messaging and social media apps influence the way people communicate. The research sample represents Android smartphone users in India, Japan, South?Korea, the UK, and the US. In India, 7,500 Android users were surveyed.
The report said across the US, the UK and India, more than 30 <g data-gr-id="30">per cent</g> of the time spent on smartphones is spent on communicating apps.
"We found that 40-50 <g data-gr-id="39">per cent</g> of data consumption for communication apps uses mobile broadband, whereas the corresponding figure for video is just 20 <g data-gr-id="40">per cent</g>," Ericsson ConsumerLab Senior Advisor Swetleena Swain said. Meanwhile, payments services major Suvidha Infoserve has proposed paperless e-KYC service for the telecom sector to check the menace of illegal SIM cards and fast-track issuance of genuine mobile connections.
The Rs 8,000-crore company, which was founded by Mumbai- based entrepreneur Paresh <g data-gr-id="43">Rajde</g> in 2007 with angel funding by construction tycoon Shapoorji Pallonji Mistry, is currently in talks with top telecom service providers and expects to soon begin implementing the e-KYC for the sector. The investors in Suvidha Infoserve, which has also applied for a payments bank licence, include <g data-gr-id="44">Norvest</g> Ventures Partners, World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp, Mitsui & Co and Reliance Venture Asset Management.
Present in the payment and remittance space, Suvidha Infoserve calls itself <g data-gr-id="36">an s</g>-commerce or service-commerce firm. It is an aggregator of multiple services like <g data-gr-id="35">utility</g> bill collection, insurance premium, mobile and DTH recharge, travel tickets, money transfer services on a single platform through a network of 65,000 franchise outlets.
Suvidha is now planning to offer paperless e-KYC service for the telecom sector, which is estimated
to have 100 crore mobile subscribers. It recently launched a pre-paid card in association with Axis Bank where pre-paid cards can be issued and activated within few minutes using the
e-KYC model.