reported to have under 50% smart phone penetration. Countries like India and Sri Lanka are much lower – under 12 20 or 25%. Smartphone penetration was highest in the 15-24 age group, as high as 84%, and highest among those from higher income households (75%). On average mobile owners had paid approximately USD 90 for their handsets. Among mobile owners, there is considerable use of mobile Internet, using various apps that are installed on the phone. Thirty-four percent of mobile owners used at least one data service (internet via a browser or apps, including social media, calling and chat applications, etc.) on their mobile phone. Usage was limited to a few apps (mostly social media and calling apps); over half of these data service users only used between one and three types of services. Looking at the data services individually, the highest percentage, or 24% of phone/SIM owners’ use is calling/using VOIP application such as Viber and Skype (Figure 2). Next highest, at 20% are the various chat applications such as Whatsapp and Facebook messenger. Third is the Facebook app, with 17% of all phone owners using it. These are reasonably high numbers, just 6 months after liberalization. Interestingly, however, when asked (in another question of the survey) if they had used the Internet “through a browser on any device such as a computer, tablet or mobile phone in the past 12 months”, only 2% say “yes”. Even within this 2%, the majority use a mobile phone, not a tablet or a computer. Given that computer use in the 12 months preceding the survey was at a mere 2%, the dominance of mobile phone even for browser-based Internet (the traditional and perhaps more cumbersome way to access the internet) is not surprising. GSMA Intelligence. 2015. Mobile internet usage challenges in Asia — awareness, literacy and local content. Retrieved from https://gsmaintelligence.com/research/?file=06e82e7d9c569e05a6d54974c33f6b04&download 12