Pakistani users are shifting their Internet into a
new gear in 2014, which will be the year mobile Internet overtakes desktop
Internet, according to a new survey sponsored by Google.While desktop is dominant with 91 percent owning a
PC at home, 45 percent also own a smartphone or tablet. 18 percent cite the
latter as their primary device. Mobile devices are gaining momentum: 86 percent
use PCs to access the Internet daily, 77 percent use smartphones, 73 percent
use feature phones and 59 percent use tablets daily.
This trend follows a
decline in the prices of smartphones and tablets, and anticipated launch of 3G
services. Internet-capable feature phones are
expected to continue to play an important role, too. An additional
factor is the unreliability of the electricity supply which is also helping to
promote the usage of tablets and smartphones in Pakistan.
“We think 2014 is the year mobile Internet overtakes
desktop Internet in Pakistan. Consumers are really starting to embrace
smartphones and tablets,” said Tania Aidrus, Manager for Asian Growth Markets,
Google Asia Pacific.
These findings come from a survey
of over 1,000 Pakistanis by research firm IDC on behalf of Google. The
“Pakistan Digital Consumer Study” conducted earlier this quarter took a look at
the life of the connected Pakistani consumer.
Pakistani
digital consumers are engaging more with the Internet than ever before: of
those surveyed, 70 percent spend time daily on the Internet while 60 percent
say it is also where they liked to spend most of their personal time. Watching
TV (41 percent) and reading the newspaper (24 percent) combined ranked lower
than the Internet.
The
study revealed that home is the preferred location for Internet access — even
for mobile-only users, who prefer to use their home wi-fi connection. The
average hours spent on the Internet are 2.25 hours a day on weekdays and 3
hours a day on weekends.
The top three
activities in Pakistan both on desktop and mobile Internet are: social media,
email and general search. Interestingly, digital Pakistanis like to learn on
their smartphones with educational content coming in fourth. Also popular on
smartphones are online banking, researching financial services and investment,
and bill payments -- pointing to a near future where digitally literate
Pakistanis make the Web work for them.
The main
challenge of Internet proliferation in Pakistan are the quality and reliability
of connectivity -- including poor speed or bandwidth availability, perceived
value-for-money, customer service quality, limited choice of plans and
frequency of service interruptions. The unreliability of the power supply is
also a factor.
With digital
Pakistanis living more of their lives online, the main opportunities are
related to the economic contribution of the Internet, especially for
small-medium businesses, as well as nutritious and local Internet content:
education, research, financial services.
There are
over 2 billion Internet users today. Throughout the 2000s, the Internet has been defined by developed countries,
but it is now being defined by massive, developing countries like Pakistan.
