Mukesh Ambani breaking all barriers to connect next billion

New Delhi: As Asia gears up for the next wave of digital transformation to connect the next billion people online, infrastructural and affordability barriers are being broken in India by Reliance Industries Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani and his initiatives, a new survey said on Friday.

According to the survey by Booking Holdings, the world's leader in online travel, a growing affluence has lifted over a billion people out of poverty, creating a new middle class -- in many countries for the first time -- and driving a growth in consumer demand.

Asked which factors were driving, or were likely to drive, increased internet adoption, the respondents highlighted pull factors like the increased availability of high-quality infrastructure, improved affordability and better public understanding of the internet as factors that would drive increased uptake.

"This ties in neatly with the infrastructural -- as opposed to the human -- barriers, the removal of which our respondents identified as being key to unleashing the potential of the Next Billion.

"With projects such as the $35 billion investment in 4G by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, these barriers are quickly coming down in India," the report emphasised.

As on March 31, the subscriber base of Reliance Jio stood at 306.7 million. The average data consumption per user per month was 10.9 GB and average voice consumption 823 minutes per user per month.

"We at Jio are truly overwhelmed and proud to now serve over 300 million subscribers. The growth in data and voice traffic at this scale has been unparalleled," Mukesh Ambani had said.

For the survey, Booking Holdings surveyed tech experts and tech leaders in three markets -- China, India and Indonesia.

Nearly 74 per cent respondents in India said internet access is a basic necessity.

One of the most heartening and economically significant impacts of the expansion of connectivity in Asia was the corresponding improvement in the lives of women and girls.

Nearly 79 per cent of respondents said gender was not a barrier to internet adoption in their country.

"Nearly 86 per cent said that increased gender equality would drive adoption and 91 per cent said greater digital participation would also improve gender equality in their country," the findings showed.

In India, according to a recent report, almost half of tech entrepreneurs are women.

By large majorities, the respondents expected their countrymen and women to benefit from digital inclusion in ways that would help them become more educated and more prosperous -- allowing the connected to rise up the social ladder.

"This aspirational edge to gathering digital transformation of all three countries reveals a growing individualistic and entrepreneurial culture that would not be out of place in Silicon Valley," the survey noted.

According to Glenn Fogel, CEO, Booking Holdings, much of this explosion of commerce and entrepreneurship is due to the growing availability and ease of internet connectivity in Asia.

"In India, the e-commerce market is expected to quadruple in size between 2017 and 2022 to a value of $150 billion... Asians are going online to sell and to shop," he said.