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Here’s Why India’s Internet Growth has Stalled

Here's Why India's Internet Growth has Stalled

(CTN News) – India is the second-largest mobile phone market in the world, with more than a billion customers.

However, it seems that internet growth in this big sector has stagnated.

790 million individuals in the nation have wireless broadband subscriptions as of October 2022, according to the telecom authority.

Just one million more customers were added than in August 2021. The explosive double-digit growth in mobile internet customers between 2016 and 2020 has already slowed to single digits.

Smartphones are the primary means of internet access, and development in this area is leveling down. 650 million smartphones are presently being used in India, although growth has stalled.

According to Counterpoint, a market research company, sales of mobile phones decreased to 151 million units last year from a high of 168 million in 2021. This year, revenue growth is anticipated to be in the single digits.

According to IDC, a different market research company, people were purchasing a new smartphone every 14–16 months up until three years ago.

However, they are now searching for an update around every 22 months.

One explanation is that since the epidemic, smartphone prices have increased due to growing component costs, a weaker rupee, and supply chain issues affecting China, the biggest smartphone manufacturer in the world.

Over 300 components, or almost 90% of them, are imported into cellphones built in India.

At home, a faltering economy, job losses, and the ensuing strain on budgets mean less money is available for a more expensive mobile phone.

According to digital rights activist Nikhil Pahwa, “The slowdown in internet development should be considered a sign of the status of the economy.”

According to Navkendar Singh of IDC, the average cost of a smartphone has increased from 15,000 rupees two years ago to around 22,000 rupees ($269; £220). India is unusually price sensitive for a market of its size: 80% of the gadgets sold here cost less than 20,000 rupees.

“This warrants serious worry. Smartphone adoption in the second-biggest mobile phone market in the world is much behind that of China, which has the largest market, “Mr. Singh notes.

Anuj Gandhi, the creator of Plug and Play Entertainment, and others question if the Indian smartphone business is on life support. He asks, “Where will growth come from when so many people still live in poverty?

More than 350 million people in India use “dumbphones” (basic handsets or feature phones), and if they can afford them, they can switch to smartphones.

Nearly half of them use gadgets that cost less than 1,500 rupees.

According to Tarun Pathak of Counterpoint, only 35 million Indians migrated from feature phones to smartphones in 2022 due to increased costs for devices and data, down from 60 million upgrades annually before the Covid attack.

He says, “the feature to smartphone migration has slowed down significantly.”

A growing, unofficial second-hand industry that may supply the demand for “cheap” cell phones is often overlooked. “Some of this need is being filled by the used market. But the base is not expanding, “Mr. Singh argues.

It’s bad news for India because internet usage is growing more slowly. Many people find it difficult to access government resources like immunizations, rations, and welfare benefits without a smartphone.

The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), a government-backed real-time cashless transaction network leveraging mobile apps, has only seen more than 250 million transactions per day this month. By 2025, India’s central bank envisions a “less-cash, less-card society.”

There is undoubtedly space for the internet and phones to expand further. In rural regions, the growth of wireless broadband customers has slowed.

According to a study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and data analytics firm Kantar, the growth rate of active internet use, or those who have accessed the internet in the past month, “progressively decreased over the years” and was the lowest in the previous four years in 2020.

Men access the internet more often than women and use cell phones more frequently. Numerous rural homes still only have one device.

According to Mr. Pahwa, it’s not simply the growing cost of phones that is delaying the expansion of the internet.

Most applications and services must handle rural India’s literacy and language obstacles. He claims that most internet is still in English and a few Indian languages.

More creative solutions are required, like the battery-operated PayTM Soundbox, which provides merchants with quick audio confirmation in 11 languages for each purchase made via the payment app.

Mr. Pahwa says, “We need more creativity to develop the internet in rural India.” However, smartphone sales must increase first.

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Bangladesh Supreme Court to Rule on Controversial Job Quotas Amid Nationwide protests

Bangladesh Supreme Court to Rule on Controversial Job Quotas Amid Nationwide protests

(CTN News) – The future of public service hiring regulations, which have provoked national conflicts between police and university students that have resulted in at least 133 fatalities so far, is set to be decided by Bangladesh’s Supreme Court on Sunday, or today.

Later in the day, the nation’s highest court will meet to declare its decision about the controversial job quotas—either in favor of or against their elimination.

This week’s protests over politically motivated admission quotas for highly sought-after government posts turned into some of the worst instability during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s watch.

Due to the ongoing turmoil, a curfew has been in place since Friday. In addition, the government has declared a two-day holiday during which all offices and institutions would be closed.

After riot police were unable to restore order, soldiers are now policing cities throughout Bangladesh, and since Thursday, there has been a statewide internet blackout that has severely limited the flow of information to the outside world.

SEE ALSO: Nearly 1,000 Indian Students Return from Bangladesh Amid Deadly Unrest Over Job Quota System

Hasina made hints to the public this week that the plan will be abandoned, which comes after her opponents accuse her government of using the judiciary to further its own agenda.

However, a positive decision is unlikely to calm the nation’s simmering rage in the wake of the intensifying crackdown and growing dead toll.

Business owner Hasibul Sheikh, 24, told AFP, “It’s not about the rights of the students anymore,” while observing a Saturday street demonstration in the capital city of Dhaka against a statewide curfew.

“Our demand is one point now, and that’s the resignation of the government,” he stated.

A system that reserves more than half of civil service positions for particular groups, like as children of veterans of the 1971 war, is the driving force behind the upheaval this month.

Hasina, 76, has ruled the nation since 2009 and won her fourth consecutive election in January following a ballot in which there was no real competition, according to critics who claim the program helps families who support her.

Rights organizations accuse Hasina’s government of abusing state institutions, including as the extrajudicial assassination of opposition activists, in order to strengthen its grasp on power and quell dissent.

Bangladesh’s 170 million people lack access to sufficient employment possibilities, therefore the quota system is a major cause of anger for recent graduates who are struggling to find work.

“The government’s actions have made the situation worse, rather than trying to address the protesters’ grievances,” Pierre Prakash, Asia director of Crisis Group, told AFP.

After a week of increasing violence, Hasina canceled her intentions to depart the nation on Sunday for a diplomatic trip to Spain and Brazil.

Source: The Indian Express

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Pakistani Government Plans to Ban PTI

Pakistani Government Plans to Ban PTI

(CTN News) – The Pakistani government has announced measures to outlaw Pakistan Terheek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar made the declaration on Monday, only days after the Supreme Court declared the PTI eligible for a share of reserved seats in national and provincial assemblies.

After reviewing all relevant information, the government has decided to ban PTI. “We will file a case to ban the party,” he said, citing claims such as inciting violent protests last year and leaking confidential information.

Tarar stated that the case would be moved to the Supreme Court.

He also stated that the government intended to file treason charges against Khan and two other senior party leaders, former President of Pakistan Arif Alvi and ex-Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly Qasim Suri, as well as a review appeal against the Supreme Court’s ruling that the PTI should be allocated some assembly seats reserved for women and members of religious minorities.

According to Sayed Zulfiqar Bukhari, a top PTI politician and party spokesperson, the government’s action “betrays their complete panic”.

“After realizing that they could no longer threaten, compel, or blackmail judges, they decided to make this move through the cabinet. “All of their attempts to stop us have been declared illegal by the courts,” he stated.

Last week, the Supreme Court recognized the PTI as a political party and confirmed that the party’s lack of an electoral emblem did not affect its legal right to field candidates.

The verdict was in response to the PTI being barred from competing in parliamentary elections in February using its party emblem, the cricket bat, forcing it to field candidates as independents.

Despite the setback, PTI-backed candidates emerged as the largest parliamentary bloc, winning 93 seats.

After Khan declined to cooperate with his political opponents, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) formed a coalition government with other smaller parties.

Ex-Governor Sindh Zubair, who formerly served in the PMLN, stated that the government’s action was in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week and warned of political upheaval ahead.

“The powers that be are trying to disenfranchise the largest majority of voters of the country, who voted for PTI,” he disclosed to Al Jazeera.

Khan was appointed prime minister in August 2018 but was dismissed from power in April 2022 after a parliamentary vote of no-confidence.

The cricketer-turned-politician has since faced a slew of legal issues, including charges of misplacing and leaking the contents of a confidential cable delivered to Islamabad by Pakistan’s then-ambassador in the US in 2022.

Khan has continually disputed the charge, claiming that the dossier contained evidence that his resignation as prime minister was orchestrated by his political opponents and the country’s powerful military, with assistance from the US administration. Both Washington and Pakistan’s army deny the accusation.

Despite multiple recent court verdicts in his favor, Khan has been in prison since August of last year.

Source: Aljazeera

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NAB Re-Arrests Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi After Iddat Case Conviction Overturned

NAB Re-Arrests Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi After Iddat Case Conviction Overturned

(CTN News) – Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were acquitted in the Iddat case by a sessions court on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the PTI in reserved seats.

However, their relief was short-lived when Imran Khan was detained by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for selling official goods. Bushra Bibi was also rearrested in this case while being released from Adiala Jail’s Gate No. 3.

According to sources, the NAB detained Bushra Bibi after the bureau’s chairman issued arrest warrants for her and Imran Khan. Both are to be investigated in Adiala Jail.

Opposition leader Omar Ayub Khan condemned Bushra Bibi’s imprisonment and criticized the Adiala Jail administration. He also cautioned the jail superintendent of the repercussions and announced that a privilege motion would be filed against him.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were acquitted in the Iddat case after Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Mohammad Afzal Majoka reversed their previous verdict, which sentenced them to seven years in prison on February 3, five days before the general election.

Imran Khan’s lawyers, Usman Gill and Zaheer Abbas, were in court when the verdict was pronounced.

In the 28-page ruling, Judge Majoka rejected Khawar Fareed Maneka, Bushra Bibi’s ex-husband,’s arguments that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s nikah was illegally performed and that Mr. Maneka was denied Buju (reconciliation rights) under religious law.

The court also rejected the allegation of fornication under provision 496-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), stating that no charge was filed under this provision against both Imran Khan and his spouse “because there was no evidence of a second witness”. The trial court heard only one witness, Mr Maneka’s domestic servant.

“In these circumstances, it cannot be said that the appellants committed fornication,” the judge wrote. Regarding the charge of contracting marriage fraudulently during the Iddat period, the judge found that in a video given as evidence during the trial, Mr. Maneka lauded his ex-wife, Bushra Bibi, and “deposed that his ex-wife is a pious lady.”

The magistrate inquired about “how this witness [Mr Maneka] can claim that the appellant No. 2 [Bushra Bibi] committed fraud with him” .

The court announced its decision: “From a perusal of Section 496 PPC and the above-mentioned esteemed citations, this court is of the view that the appellants have not gone through any marriage ceremony fraudulently or with dishonest intention because none of the parties claimed that nikah was not performed and fraudulently he or she was supposed to believe that marriage ceremony was solemnised.”

The court judgment added: “In the instant instance, it is the complainant’s case that the appellants’ nikah was done on January 1, 2018, followed by the second nikah in February 2018. By no stretch of the imagination, it was a marriage with dishonest or deceptive intentions.”

Regarding Mr. Maneka’s claim that he was denied reconciliation rights and so deceived by Imran Khan and Ms. Bibi, the court noted that during cross-examination, Mr. Maneka stated that he learned of the appellants’ marriage on the second day of their nikah.

Before submitting the complaint, the judge questioned why Mr Maneka had been silent on his reconciliation rights for six years.

The judge stated, “The complainant has failed to prove his case against the appellants.” As a result, both appeals filed by appellants No. 1 [Imran Khan] and No. 2 [Bushra Bibi] are accepted, the judgment of the learned trial court of February 3, 2024, is overturned, and both appellants are acquitted of the accusation.”

The court ordered their freedom unless they needed to be imprisoned in other cases.

Source: DAWN

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