India to have 25M Net users by 2005

By CNN's Kristie Lu Stout

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- India's Net population will surge from 5 million to 25 million surfers by 2005, according to a new study by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The consulting firm expects India to post an Internet access spending growth rate of almost 50 percent during the next four years, despite its low fixed-line penetration.

it says the potential of broadband access through cable modems will facilitate the boom in Net usage in a country where there are more TV and cable connections than PCs and telephone lines.

High cable penetration

India has the highest cable penetration percentage among countries with low fixed-line penetration.

Last year, India had a cable penetration of 46.8 percent, while China stands at 31.3 percent.

India's National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM) estimates that India has 5.5 million Internet users accessing 1.8 million Internet accounts.

But with the spread of cable and the fall in Internet dial-up rates, the Indian Internet market is set to boom.

NASSCOM has a more optimistic forecast than PricewaterhouseCoopers. It projects that India will have 30 million Internet users by the end of 2003.

There are now 104 regional and national Internet Service Providers (ISPs) serving India's growing Internet subscriber base.

Commercial Internet access in India was introduced in August 1995. The first private players entered the market in November 1998.

Public sector telephony provider VSNL is the largest ISP player in India with over 600,000 accounts. Satyam Infoway, a newer entrant that is outpacing VSNL in both growth and user uptake, is the second largest with 450,000.