Telephone Network and Internet Penetration in India: A Pragmatic study using Data Analytics

– Namrata Agrawal* Professor, AJNIFM, Institute of Ministry of Finance, Government of India

nagrawal@nifm.ac.in https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3903-625X

Paper Nomenclature: Case Study Based Paper

Paper Code: GJEISV13I1JM2021CSBP1

Submission at Portal (www.gjeis.com): 01-Feb-2021

Manuscript Acknowledged: 06-Feb-2021

Originality Check: 18-Feb-2021

Originality Test (Plag) Ratio (Urkund): 12%

Author Revert with Rectified Copy: 19-Feb-2021

Peer Reviewers Comment (Open): 23-Feb-2021

Single Blind Reviewers Explanation: 01-March 2021

Double Blind Reviewers Interpretation: 05-March-2021

Triple Blind Reviewers Annotations: 12-March-2021

Authour Update (w.r.t. correction, suggestion & observation): 20-March-2021

Camera-Ready-Copy: 23-March-2021

Editorial Board Excerpt & Citation: 25-March-2021

Published Online First: 31-March-2021

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*Corresponding Author (Namrata)

ABSTRACT Purpose:Thepresent research studyhighlights theexpansion trendandbenefitsof telephonenetwork(wirelineandwireless)andInternetpenetrationinIndiaw.r.t.evergrowingmobilephonesubscriberbaseinthecountry.Mobile,aluxuryitemof 1990’s,havebeen transformed intoan inseparablepartof all strataof Indiancitizens.Theeffectiveandefficientmobilenetworkshavenotonlyredefinedthebusinessprocessesbuthavere-shapedandempoweredthecommonmassesof Indialeadingtoinformedandconnectedsociety.Endowedwithhighlyregulatedtelecomsector,Indiahasthehighestnumberof mobileplayersinserviceareaineachof thecountry’s22telecomcirclesleadingtolowesttariff ratesintheworld.

The paper calls for adopting a multi-dimensional endeavour starting from datacollectionand its subsequent standardisation,useof analytical tools for itsanalysisresulting information generation for informed policy decisions. The statistics havebeen collected from TRAI, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation,Government Data Platform, Department of Telecommunications Government of Indiaand InternationalTelecommunicationUnionanddealt exhaustively toobtainthefollowingresults:

Trend Analysis of Telephone Network (wired and wireless) and subscriber baseexpansioninIndia

Measureof Teledensity(per100inhabitants)inurbanandruralIndia(2008to2018)

Growthof InternetSubscriberbaseinurbanandruralIndia(2015-2018)

ServiceareawiseInternetSubscriptions(millions)(2014-2018)

PSUTelecomPlayers&SubscriberbaseinIndia(inmillions)(2008-2018)

InternetSubscribers(per100inhabitants)inIndiaandAfrica(2012-2016)

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www.gjeis.comCase Study Based Paper

Namrata Agrawal

endeavour starting fromdata collection and its subsequentstandardisation, use of analytical tools for its analysisresulting information generation for informed policydecisions. Statistics have been collected from TelecomRegulatoryAuthorityof India(TRAI),Ministryof Statistics&ProgrammeImplementation,GovernmentDataPlatform,Department of TelecommunicationsGovernment of India(DoT) and International TelecommunicationUnion (ITU)[11].

Research Objectives Theobjectivesof selectingthistopicanddatasetforthe

studyisevidentasmobileandinternetcommunicationsarepartandparcelof thelifeof almostallthecitizensof India.Under the Digital India Programme of the Governmentof India,most of the e-services aremade available to thecitizens through thesenetworksand theyare thebackboneof theGovernment’seffortstoempowerthecitizens,asteptowardsparticipativeandcitizenfriendlyGovernment.

Themainobjectivesof thestudyistoanalysethefollowingusingITanalyticaltools:

(a) Analysis based on Telephone Network (wired and wireless) and subscriber based statistics

Trendanalysisof Telephonenetworkexpansionini.India(2014-2018)

Comparative Analysis of wired vs wirelessii.subscribersbase(2008to2018)

Measure of Tele-density (per 100 inhabitants) iniii.urbanandruralIndia(2008to2018)

PopulationwiseTelephoneSubscribers (wiredandiv.wireless)invariousStatesof India

(b) Analysis based upon Internet subscribers

Growthof InternetSubscribers inurbanandrurali.India(2015-2018)

ServiceareawiseInternetSubscriptions(millions)ii.

(c) Analysis based on Telecom Operators statistics

PSU Telecom Subscribers in India (in millions)i.(2008-2018)

Private Telecom Subscribers in India (inmillions)ii.(2017-2018)

(d) International comparison

Year-wise Mobile Cellular Subscriptionsi.-InternationalComparisons(2012-2016)

Internetsubscriptions(per100inhabitants)inIndiaii.andAfrica(2012-2016)

IntroductionThepresentresearchstudyhighlightstheexpansiontrend

and benefits of telephonenetwork (wire line andwireless)andInternetpenetrationinIndiaw.r.t.evergrowingmobilephone subscriber base in the country. India is theworld’ssecond largest telecommunications market, with round1,186.63 million telephone subscriber base at the end of June,2019 [5].Mobile,a luxury itemof 1990’s,havebeentransformedintoaninseparablepartof allstrataof Indiancitizens[3].Theeffectiveandefficientmobilenetworkshavenotonlyredefinedthebusinessprocessesbuthavere-shapedand empowered the common masses of India leading toinformedandconnectedsociety[1].

Endowedwithhighlyregulatedtelecomsector,Indiahasthehighestnumberof mobileplayersinserviceareaineachof the country’s 22 telecom circles leading to lowest tariff rates intheworld.Accordingtothe‘HouseholdSurveyonIndia’sCitizenEnvironment&ConsumerEconomy’ (ICE360°survey)conductedin2016,88%of householdsinIndiahaveamobilephone.

India is also the second largest country in terms of •internetsubscribers.Asof 2019,Indiaholdstheworld’shighestdatausagepersmartphoneatanaverageof 9.9GBpermonth.Itisexpectedtodoubleto18GBby2024[7].Facebookisthemostpopularsocialnetworkingsiteinthecountry.Therewereabout195millionFacebookusersinIndiain2016,placingIndiaasthecountrywiththe largest Facebook user base in the world. Otherpopular networks include WhatsApp, Google+, andSkype. Retail e-commerce sales in Indian amountedtoabout16billionUSdollarsthatyearandareprojectto surpass 45 billionUS dollars in 2021. As per thereportof OmidyarNetwork,mobilephonepenetrationinIndiaissettoriseto85-90%bytheyear2020(LiveMint,2017).By2021,therewillbeabout635.8millioninternet users in India [6].TheGovernment has beenproactive in itsefforts to transformIndia intoaglobaltelecommunication hub. Indian telecom sector’s grossrevenuegrew fromUS$32.05billion inFY08 toUS$33.97 billion in FY19. Gross revenue of the telecomsectorstoodatINR237,416.6crore(US$33.97billion)in2018-19[8].

Indian telecom sector’s revenue is expected to grow•by7percentinFY20backedbystabilizingtariff warsandincreasedspendingbysubscribersduetominimumrecharge plans The Government of India unveiledtheNationalDigital Communications Policy, 2018 inSeptember 2018. The policy aims to attract US$ 100billionworthof investmentsandgenerate4millionjobsinthesectorby2022[8].

The paper calls for adopting a multi-dimensional

Global Journal of Enterprise Information System

Vol 13 | Issue 1 | Jan-Mar 2021 Online ISSN : 0975-1432 | Print ISSN : 0975-153X44

Telephone Network and Internet Penetration in India: A Pragmatic study using Data Analytics

literature Review3.1 AstudybyMs.SeemaGrewalin2012,onthegrowth

of M-Commerce showed that in few years from nowthemobilecommercewillbecomemoresecuredasthecellphonecompaniesarespendingmoretoprotecttheircustomers and their information from intrusions andhacking.Mobilecommercehasgainedahugepopularitybutstillitisinitsinitialphaseandcanbefurtherexpandtodifferentfieldsandcanplayahugeroleineffectinghuman life. Its future seems to be extremely safe andbrightanditsupgradedversionwillemergeastheleaderinthe4Gtechnologicalversion.ThoughM-Commercewasarelativelynewspacethen,itgoeswithoutsayingthatthemobilephoneshavegivenfilliptoe-Commerce(abiggersubsetof commercethatcontainsm-Commerce)(Aggarwal,2012).

3.2 In a study conducted inWestBengal, IFFCOKishanSanchar Limited (IKSL) made an endeavor todisseminate information and knowledge amongstthe farmers through voice messaging system in locallanguage. Farmers were mostly benefited from voicemailinadoptingbetteragriculturalpracticesfollowedbyincreasedproductionand revenue, change in croppingpattern and connection tomarket (Goswami, Das, &Basu,2012).

3.3 In another study Gupta et al investigated the social,technological, economic and political (STEP) factorsthat have influenced the diffusion process of mobiletelephony especially the diffusion speed. The studyrevealedthatcompetitionandgovernmentinterventionplayed a significant role in accelerating the diffusionspeed of mobile telephony bymaking the technologyaffordable. It is found that mobile telephony is asubstitute for fixed line telephony in India (Gupta &Jain,2012).

3.4 In a study conducted in sub-Sharan Africa regardingmobile phone penetration for inclusive humandevelopment found that, there are significant synergyeffectsinpoliticalstability,voiceandaccountabilityandrule of law thereby implying convergence in inclusivehumandevelopment(Asongu&Nwachukwu,2016).

3.5 However,onthecontrary,DaveyandDaveyinastudyhasraisedconcernsduetosocialandpsychologicaleffectsof excessive use of smartphone’s especially amongIndianadolescents.Theyfoundthatsmartphone’shavemade mobile connectivity so accessible that today’sIndian generations are abusing their Smartphone.Smartphone abuse to addiction has become moreserious since adolescents can download and runnumerous applicationswith smartphone evenwithoutInternet connection.They concluded that smartphoneaddictionisstillnotsufficientlyaddressedwithinstudiesin literature, so they have suggested more in-depthqualitative and quantitative studies in the future withlargersamplesizes,andthedevelopmentof policiestoraiseawarenessaboutthisissuebyIndiangovernmentsforbetterfutureof Indianadolescentsasapriorityaction(Davey&Davey,2014).

3.6 Another hazard due to excessive and indiscriminateuseof mobilephoneshasbeenhighlightedinasurveyconducted byTNS India Pvt. Limited (Kantar PublicIndia)forSaveLifeFoundationfoundthathalf of therespondentswereawareof the implicationsof mobilephoneusagewhiledriving.Further in theirstudy theyfound that one in five respondents has personallyexperienced an accident or a near-miss incidentwhenusing mobile phone while driving. Around 38%respondents had experienced a near miss accidentwhile using the phonewhile walking on/crossing theroad.Almostone inevery four truck/busdrivershadexperienced an accident or nearmiss when using thephonewhiledriving(SaveLIFEFoundation,2017).

3.7 TelecommunicationbyIndiaBrandEquityFoundationhighlights the recent trends and strategies in telecomsector.The report deliberates upon the growth driversand the opportunities in this sector. The industryassociations, associated benefits and National DigitalCommunications Policy – 2018 has been vividlyexplained.

3.8 There are numerous areas where the literature waslacking. Studies connecting demographics, terrain etc.with subscriber basewas not available in open sourcedomains.Forexample,nostudieswerefoundthatcoulddiscernmobile connectivityand sexof subscribers, anauthenticstudyregardingsocio-economicstatusanditsimpactonmobilephoneusagetonameafew.However,suchstudiesmightbeundertakenbutisnotavailableinpublicdomainforobviousreasons.

Research Methodology: [9] StatisticsonInternetSubscriberbaseof India,State-wise

mobile user density and other importance parameters andvariablesunderstudyhavebeencollectedfromTRAI,M/oStatistics&ProgrammeImplementation,GovernmentDataPlatform of India, Department of Telecommunications,Government of India, International TelecommunicationUnion. The data thus obtained has been standardised,studied,analysedandtheresultshavebeendisplayedintheformof charts.Thetrendisrepresentedbyatrendline.Thequantitativeanalysishasbeenexhaustivelydealtwithinthisstudy.

Data Analytics and Observations: [4][10]The study and analysis of the data (using analytical

software)displaysinterestingresultsasdiscussedbelow:

5.1 Analysis based on Telephone Network (wired and wireless) and subscriber base statistics

5.1.1 Trend analysis of Telephone network expansion in India (2014-1018)

Thedatabelowexhibitstherateof expansionof telephonelinesinIndiainlast5years.Thefollowingisbeinginferred:

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i) There is surge in telephone subscriber’s base from the year 2014 till the year 2018 in India.

ii) The trend line depicts rising trend of total telephones (in million) in India during the period of study.

iii) There is steep rise in the total number of telephones during 2014 to 2017, however, a moderate trend line is observed during 2017 to 2018.

iv) The spurt may be attributed to the lowest telephone tariff in India as compared to the world.

5.1.2 Comparative analysis of wired vs wireless subscribers base (2008 to 2018)

Themobilephoneshavebecomeanintegralpartof theIndian society leading to a connected society. The chartbelowshowsthedeclineof fixedlinesandgrowthof wirelessphones.

i) TheincreasingdemandforwirelessconnectivityinIndiabetween the years 2004-2013 depicts a steep rise in thewirelessuserswhileinthefixedlinetherehasbeenafallinthewirelineusersinIndia.

ii) Itisevidentthatmobilephonehaveextensivelypenetratedinto the Indian populace as compared to fixed linephones.

iii)Thisprobablymaybedue to the fact that the fixed lineconnections require greater infrastructure and is costintensiveandaboveall,thepossibilityof telephonefaultsarehigherandrestrictsmobility.

5.1.3 Measure of Teledensity (per 100 inhabitants) in urban and rural India (2008 to 2018)

i) It is observed that during the last ten years, there hasbeensteadyriseinruralsubscribers’teledensityinIndia,however, there is exponential growthof teledensity forurbansubscriberstilltheyear2012.

ii) Theteledensityof urbansubscriberssharplydeclined intheyear2013at146.64.Itslightlypickedupinlateryearsat171.52intheyear2017andthendeclined.

iii)Thesuddensurge in ruralandurban teledensity in theyear2016-17maybeduetointroductionof freeRelianceJioServicesinOctober2016.

Phonedensitycanbeusedtopredictthepotentialmarketinaparticularstateforfurtherexpansion.

5.1.4 Population wise Telephone subscribers (wired + wireless) in various States of India

It is observed that the three states,Himachal Pradesh,KeralaandPunjabhavemorethan70percentof populationwith telephone connectivity. However, the States such asChhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand has the lowesttelephone penetration, with less than 20 percent of theirpopulation being connected. These states have difficultterrain, undulating ground and some other related issuesleadingtopoortelephonepenetration.

5.2. Analysis based on Internet subscribers statics

5.2.1 Growth of Internet subscribers in urban and rural India (2015-2018)

Case Study Based PaperNamrata Agrawal

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It is observed that generally the number of InternetsubscribersinruralIndiaislow,whereasthereissignificantrise in the number of Internet subscribers in urban areas.However, the increase in theurban subscribers is relativelylowduringtheyear2015and2016.

ThesuddensurgeintheInternetSubscribersbaseintheyear 2016 to 2017may be probably due to launch of freeRelianceJioServicesinthelatermonthsof 2016.

5.2.2 Service area wise Internet subscriptions (millions) (2014-2018): It is observed that there is phenomenal growth in the number of internet subscribers in the country over the last five years.

Thefollowingisinferredfromthechart:

The state of Maharashtra has maximum number of 1.InternetSubscribers followedbyTamilnaduandUttarPradesh(E).

The state of Himachal Pradesh has lowest Internet2.subscriberbaseduetoitstopographicallocation,difficultterrains,hillsandunpredictedweatherconditions.

The Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and3.the North Eastern states of India lacks proper roadconnectivityduetohillylandscape.Installationof BaseTrans-Receiver Station (BTS) for wireless coverage is

difficult and laying of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) isnotphysicallyandeconomicallyviableacrossthehillyterrainof NorthEasternStates.

5.3 Analysis based on Telecom Operator wise statistics

5.3.1 PSU Telecom Players & Subscriber base in India (in millions) (2008-2018)

TherearepublicaswellasprivatetelecomoperatorsinIndia.BharatSancharNigamLtd.,(BSNL)andMahanagarTelephoneNigamLtd(MTNL)arethemainpublictelecomoperatorswhereas there are threemajor private players—BhartiAirtel,RelianceJioandVodafoneIdea.

Thefollowingisinferred:

BSNL has larger subscriber base as compared toi.MTNL.However,MTNL’sInternetsubscriberbasehasdrasticallydecreasedoverthelasttenyears.

TheInternetsubscriberbaseof BSNLgenerallyexhibitsii.fallof itssubscriberbaseoverthelasttenyears.

5.3.2 Private Telecom Players in India (2017-2018)

BhartiwasthelargestInternetPrivatetelecomproviderfollowedbyVodafone,however,inAugust,2018mergerof IdeaandVodafonetookplace.Currently,theIndiantelecomsector has three major private players — Bharti Airtel,RelianceJioandVodafoneIdea.

5.4 International Comparison [2] [9]

5.4.1 Year-wise Mobile Cellular subscriptions -International Comparisons (2012-2016)

Telephone Network and Internet Penetration in India: A Pragmatic study using Data Analytics

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The chart based on themobile cellular subscription intheworld, developed and developing countries depicts thefactualandpracticalresults.

Themobile subscription for developing countries coverslargerareaof thegraphasthatof thedevelopedcountriesasthepopulationdensityisusuallyhighindevelopingcountries.

5.4.2 Internet Subscribers (per 100 inhabitants) in India and Africa (2012-2016)

It is observed that in the year 2012, India’s Internetsubscriberbasewasalmostfourtimesasthatof theInternetsubscribers’baseof Africa.

Intheyear2013,InternetsubscribersinAfricaincreasedsignificantly and became comparative to India. However,inlateryearsthisvariable(numberof IndividualsusingtheInternetper100inhabitants)increasedsignificantlyforIndiatoattain27intheyear2016ascomparedtothevalue20forAfrica.

Conclusion:Generally there is expansion in telephoneand Internet

subscriber base over the last several years in India. Thewirelesssubscriberbaseisexpandingexponentiallywhereasthere issignificantdecline in thewired linesubscriberbaseinthecountry.

Further, it is observed that the rate of expansion of telephone and Internet in the States such as HimachalPradesh,NorthEasterStatesandUTof Jammu&Kashmirisquitelowduetotopographical,hillyterrineandclimaticconditions. Inadequate sunlight in theseStateshamper theeffectiveuseof solarpowerBaseTransmissionStations.

Lack of proper road connectivity is an issue in mostof theNorthEasternStatesof India. Installationof BaseTrans-ReceiverStation(BTS)forwirelesscoverageisdifficultin hilly landscape of these States.Laying of Optical FibreCable(OFC)isnotphysicallyandeconomicallyviableacrossthehillyterrain.

To curb costs and focus on core operations, telecomcompanies have been segregating their tower assets intoseparatecompanies.Forexample:RelianceCommunicationshasdecidedtofinaliseadealtosellitsstakeinRelianceInfratel.The value of the deal is aroundUS$3.68 billion.Creatingseparate tower companies has helped telecom companiesloweroperatingcostandimprovecapitalstructure;thishas

also provided an additional revenue stream. To encouragecasheconomy,IndiangovernmentannouncedtoprovidefreeWi-fitomorethan1,000grampanchayats[4][10].

Recommendations:Roadwideningworkandfrequentlandslidesleadtofibre

cuts, thus, a continued disruption to services. Regular cutof undergroundOFCismoreprominentinruralareasandneedstobecoordinatedwiththelocalauthoritiesregardingdigging,repairingfollowedbyroadconstructionasessentialpartof activities.

Strongmandate andharmonization in the activities of localauthorities-RuralPanchayatbodyandmultipleentitiessuch as rural electricity, PWD, Gas,Water, and NationalOptical Fibre Network implementation partners may beensuredforeffectiveandefficientutilizationof servicesandfinancialresources.

Further, pragmatic land use policymay be formulatedfor attracting industries in the regions. Micro, small andmediumenterprisesmaybeencouraged.Localtourismmaybepromoted.

The Government of India’s announcement regardingPhased Manufacturing Programme (PMP) to promotedomesticproductionof mobilehandsets,shouldbeexecutedas per vision for building a robust indigenous mobilemanufacturingecosysteminIndia.

ThenewNationalDigitalCommunicationsPolicy2018,envisagedattractinginvestmentsworthUS$100billioninthetelecommunicationssectorby2022shouldbeexecutedandoperationalizedasintended.

References:Abraham, R., Mobile Phones and Economic Development:•EvidencefromtheFishingIndustryinIndia

Asongu,S.,&Nwachukwu,J.C.(2016,Sep-Oct).Technovation.•Science Direct

Davey,S.,&Davey,A.,• Assessment of Smartphone Addiction in Indian Adolescents: A Mixed Method Study by Systematic-review and Meta-analysis Approach

Evans James R, Business Analytics: Methods, Models and•Decisions,Pearson

Gupta,R.,&Jain,T.(2012,May).ScienceDirect.• Diffusion of Mobile Telephony in India

Internet&MobileAssociationof India(IAMAI)•

LiveMint.(2017,September2017).• Live Mint e Paper

Telecommunications by India Brand Equity Foundation,•August,2019

Telecom Statistics India-2018, Department of •Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications,Governmentof India

Wayne L. Winston, Microsoft Excel Data Analysis and•BusinessModelling,PrenticeHallof India

urls: data.gov.in•www.trai.gov.i• nwww.mospi.gov.i• n

Case Study Based PaperNamrata Agrawal

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Telephone Network and Internet Penetration in India: A Pragmatic study using Data Analytics

Editorial Excerpt

Thearticlehas12%of plagiarismwhichistheacceptedpercentageasperthenormsandstandardsof thejournalforthepublication.Aspertheeditorialboard’sobservationsandblindreviewers’remarksthepaperhadsomeminorrevisionswhichwerecommunicatedonatimelybasistotheauthors(Namrata)andaccordinglyallthecorrectionshadbeenincorporatedasandwhendirectedandrequiredtodoso.Thecommentsrelatedtothismanuscriptarenoticeablyrelatedtothetheme“Telephone Network and Internet Penetration in India”bothsubject-wiseandresearch-wise.Thepresentresearchstudyhighlightstheexpansiontrendandbenefitsof telephonenetwork(wirelineandwireless)andInternetpenetrationinIndiaoveryearsbyusingthedatacollectedfromvariousgovernmentresourcessuchas,TRAI,Ministryof StatisticsandProgrammeImplementation,GovernmentDataPlatformetc.Thefindingsof thestudyrevealedthattelephoneandInternetsubscribersareexpandingoverthelastseveralyearsinIndia.Thewirelesssubscriberbaseisexpandingexponentiallywhereasthereissignificantdeclineinthewiredlinesubscriberbaseinthecountry.Overall,thepaperpromisestoprovideastrongbaseforthefurtherstudiesinthearea.Aftercomprehensivereviewsandeditorialboard’sremarksthemanuscripthasbeencategorisedanddecidedtopublishunder“Case Based Study’’category.

Reviewers Memorandum

Internal Assessor Statement: Thepaperhasusedastrongerdataanalysistechniquesaswellasagoodreviewof supportivestudy.Thecollecteddatahasbeenstandardised,studied,analysedandtheresultshavebeendisplayedintheformof charts.Thetrendisrepresentedbyatrendline.Thisimprovestheclarityof theresultsandmakesthestudymorelucrativeandunderstandableforthereaders.

External Critic (National):Thepaperisverywellstructuredandplannedusingthedatafromtheauthoritativeandreliablesourcesfortheanalysis,thusimprovesthesignificanceof theresearch.Alsothetitleof thepaperissignificantasmobileandinternetcommunicationsarepartandparcelof thelifeof almostallthecitizensof India.

Outer Reviewer’s (Global) Observation:Mobileisconsideredtobeaninseparablepartof allstrataof Indiancitizenssincelong.ThepaperprovidesfruitfulrecommendationsforthevariousplacesacrossnationincludingHimachalPradesh,NorthEasternStates,andUTof Jammu&Kashmir.

Disclaimer Allviewsexpressedinthispaperaremy/ourown.Someof thecontentistakenfromopensourcewebsites&somearecopyrightfreeforthepurposeof disseminatingknowledge.ThosesomeWe/Ihadmentionedaboveinthereferencessectionandacknowledged/citedaswhenandwhererequired.Theauthor/shascitedtheirjointownworkmostly,Tables/Datafromotherreferencedsourcesinthisparticularpaperwiththenarrative&endorsementhasbeenpresentedwithinquotesandreferenceatthebottomof thearticleaccordingly&appropriately.Finally,someof thecontentswhicharetakenoroverlappedfromopensourcewebsitesfortheknowledgepurpose.Thosesomeof i/wehadmentionedaboveinthereferencessection.Ontheotherhandopinionsexpressedinthispaperarethoseof theauthoranddonotreflecttheviewsof theGJEIS.Theauthorhasmadeeveryefforttoensurethattheinformationinthispaperiscorrect,anyremainingerrorsanddeficienciesissolelytheresponsibilityof theauthor.

Acknowledgement Theacknowledgmentsectionisanessentialpartof allacademicresearchpapers.Itprovidesappropriaterecognitiontoallcontributorsfortheirhardworkandefforttakenwhilewritingapaper.Thedatapresentedandanalyzedinthispaperby(Namrata)werecollectedfirsthandilyandwhereverithasbeentakentheproperacknowledgmentandendorsementdepicts.Theauthorishighlyindebtedtootherswhohadfacilitatedinaccomplishingtheresearch.Lastbutnotleastendorseallreviewersandeditorsof GJEISinpublishinginapresentissue.

NamrataAgrawal “TelephoneNetworkandInternetPenetrationinIndia:A

PragmaticstudyusingDataAnalytics” Volume-13,Issue-1,Jan-Mar2021.(www.gjeis.com)

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Annexure 1

GJEIS Prevent Plagiarism in Publication The Editorial Board had used the Urkund – a Swedish anti-plagiarism software tool which is a fully-automatic machine learning text-recognition system made for detecting, preventing and handling plagiarism and trusted by thousands of institutions across worldwide.Urkund is GDPR compliant with privacy by design and an uptime of 99.9% and have trust to be the partner in academic integrity. https://www.urkund.com]tooltochecktheoriginalityandfurtheraffixedthesimilarityindexwhichis{12%}inthiscase(SeeAboveAnnexure-I).Thus,thereviewersandeditorsareof viewtofinditsuitabletopublishinthisVolume-13,Issue-1,January-March,2021

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