India has the fastest Internet traffic growth in the world: Cisco

Internet users in India, finally have something to cheer about. A recent study by Cisco has concluded that India has the fastest Internet traffic growth in the

Anuradha Shetty|Jun 04, 2013, 18:21:11 IST

Internet users in India finally have something to cheer about. A recent study by Cisco has claimed that India has the fastest Internet traffic growth in the world, and that the number is expected to grow to 348 million users by 2017.

The figures are part of Cisco's Visuals Networking Index (VNI) forecast (2012-17) and it says that the Internet traffic in the country is poised to reach 2.5 exabytes per month in 2017, up from the 292 petabytes per month in 2012. "In India, there will be 348 million Internet users in 2017, up from 138 million in 2012," the VNI forecast said.

On a global scale, though, the number of Internet users are likely to go up to 3.6 billion – more than 48 percent of the world's projected population of 7.6 billion. Last year, the number of Internet users stood at 2.3 billion, in a population of 7.2 billion. Cisco VP (Global Technology Policy) Robert Pepper said, "The good news is that Internet traffic growth in India is the fastest globally." Beginning of good times? (Image credit: Getty Images)

Beginning of good times? (Image credit: Getty Images)

Fastest Internet traffic growth in the world (Image credit: Getty Images)

On the topic of Internet traffic in India, the report said IP traffic is poised to grow six-fold from 2012 to 2017, thereby putting out a compound annual growth rate of 44 percent. "In India, IP traffic will reach 2.8 exabytes per month in 2017, up from 454 petabytes per month in 2012," the report added. It expects the number of Internet video users to grow too – to 113 million (excluding mobile-only) in 2017 from 16 million in 2012.