Pakistan’s mobile internet users stand at 21 percent of the population: Report

LAHORE: Pakistan’s mobile internet users as a percentage of the population were recorded at 21 percent at end of January 2018, according to a Global Digital report prepared by We Are Social and Hootsuite.

The internet penetration stood at 22 percent (44.6 million users) of the population at end of the aforementioned period.

Sifting through the report reveals some interesting revelations, as the country’s active social media users stood at 35 million with a penetration of 18 percent at end of January 2018. The unique mobile users in the same period were recorded at 109.5 million, with a penetration of 55 percent.

For Pakistan, the active social user’s penetration was determined to be 16 percent (32 million) at end of January this year.

The “Annual Digital Growth” section revealed Pakistan’s internet users jumped up by 27 percent (+10 million) in years’ time compared to January 2017. Active social media users posted an increase of 13 percent (+4 million), followed by active mobile social users posting a rise of 14 percent (+4 million) from a year ago.

The “Device Usage” section provides a breakup by percentage of the adult population that currently uses each kind of device (survey-based).

Mobile phone (any type) usage was recorded at 82 percent, smartphone at 31 percent, laptop or desktop computer 10 percent, tablet computer 1 percent, television (any kind) 76 percent and wearable tech device at 1 percent.

Interestingly, television represents a lion share from which people seek information, considering the growth of internet usage in Pakistan.

The report citing various data providers revealed the country’s internet users according to Internet World Stats stood at 44.6 million by end of January 2018, 30.9 million as per International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Internet Live stats 34.3 million and 30.8 million said the CIA World Factbook.

“Frequency of Internet Use” provides a breakup of how often internet users access the internet for personal reasons (any device).

Everyday usage was recorded at 58 percent, at least once a week 31 percent, at least once per month 8 percent and less than once per month 3 percent.

Coming to the section of internet speed and devices reveals average internet speeds via fixed connections stood at 6.14 MBPS and average internet speed via mobile connections 14.22 MBPS.

Fascinatingly, Pakistan’s mobile internet connection speed is more than 2 times faster than what is available via fixed-line broadband, which reveals the absence of a vast fiber optic network in the country.

The population accessing the internet via smartphone was recorded at 71 percent, accessing the internet most often via a computer or tablet 8 percent and access equally via a smartphone, computer or tablet was 8 percent as well.

“Share of web traffic by device” for laptops and desktops stood at 30 percent (+9 percent) rise in January 2018 compared to January 2017.

For mobile phones it stood at 68 percent, registering a 3 percent fall from January 2017 and tablet devices posted a 22 percent fall to touch 2 percent.

The section of “frequency of watching online video” (any device) reveals those watching online video every-day stood at 25 percent, those watching online videos every week 22 percent, watch online videos every month 17 percent, watch online videos less than once a month 14 percent and never watch online videos at 20 percent.

“How internet users watch television” section provides a comparison of the methods used for accessing and displaying television content.

Regular television on a tv set was recorded at 96 percent, recorded content on a tv set 1 percent, catch- up/on-demand service on tv set 0 percent, online content streamed on a tv set 2 percent and online content streamed on another device at 5 percent.

Once again, these statistics for how internet users watch television reveal how much conventional television media still dominates and the adoption of online streaming in Pakistan remains abysmally low.

“Mobile users’ vs Mobile connections” section compares the number of unique mobile users to the number of mobile connections

The number of unique mobile users (any type of handset) was recorded at 109.5 million, mobile penetration (unique users vs total population) 55 percent, total number of mobile connections 147.5 million, mobile connections as a percentage of total population 74 percent and the average number of connections per unique mobile user was 1.35.

“Mobile connection by type” section is based on the number of cellular connections.

The percentage of mobile connections that are prepaid held the lions share of 96 percent, percentage of mobile connections that are postpaid at 4 percent.

Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G and 4G) was recorded at 37 percent as per the report.

“Mobile connectivity index” is based on GSMA Intelligence’s assessment of the country’s key enablers and drivers of mobile connectivity.

Overall country index score was recorded at 37.1 percent out of a maximum possible score out of 100, mobile network infrastructure 35.33 out of 100, affordability of devices and services 54.36, consumer readiness 26.02 and availability of relevant content & services at 39.41 out of a maximum possible score of 100.