Internet Speed: 6.5 Mbps downlink; 10 Mbps uplink

Population: 1.322 billion

Internet Coverage: 60% of residents

Main Types of Access to the Internet: Dial-up, ADSL, Cable, Wireless

Internet Censorship: Relatively Lenient

Colocation Datacenters: 118

Colocation Industry: Top

Web Hosting Industry: Top (arguably the cheapest plans can be found here)

According to Akamai’s Q3 2015 rankings, the average downlink Internet speed in India is 6.5 Mbps and the average uplink speed is 10 Mbps.

Population & Internet Coverage

The current population of India is 1.322 billion. Over 60% of residents have access to the Internet, especially broadband connections.

Main Types of Access to the Internet

– Dial-up Internet
– ADSL Internet
– Cable Internet
– Wireless Internet (in remote areas)

Internet Access – ADSL & Dial-up

ADSL is arguably the most popular internet service in India, being provided mostly in medium and large cities. In large cities, internet speeds (both downlink and uplink) are generally acceptable, especially if there is healthy competition between providers. Where no competition exists, speeds are very slow by international standards. Furthermore, cities and otherwise any other regions that are uncovered by broadband connections present a worryingly high number of dial-up connections; in 2013, the total number of dial-up connections stood at a steady 25.33 million. This is a clear indicator of the state of the local technical infrastructure.

Internet Access – Cable Internet

Cable internet has entered India with a bang, due to the inherent advantages boasted by this technology over traditional DSL connections that are becoming more and more unreliable. However, because cable technology also requires dedicated infrastructure (DSL is provided through existing phone lines, which decreases costs on the provider’s end significantly), and because the actual rollout process is not inexpensive, it has not seen particularly high penetration rates. Still, many analysts assert that this is bound to change in the future, as demand for high internet speeds continues to grow slowly but steadily.

Internet Access – Wireless Internet

It is very important to bear in mind the fact that the Indian internet market is very chaotic – possibly the most chaotic in the world save for underdeveloped markets. New companies are founded every day, some providers merge with others, or go bankrupt altogether. This problem affects the market on a national scale, therefore a great number of customers are forced to switch between numerous providers all the time, and this process can prove to be puzzling in time. Consequently, customers who wish to avoid being caught in the crossfire opt for wireless internet. This service is also sought after by people located in remote areas.

Internet Censorship in India

Internet can be accessed freely in India. There are no major restrictions on internet access apart from content that could incite violence or hatred, or otherwise any other content that is illegal in the country (e.g. drug trafficking-related websites). However, due to the significant increase in web hosting companies in recent years, the government has imposed specific regulations to prevent or counteract proliferation of inappropriate content. For instance, legal bodies may force web hosting providers to provide information about certain individuals that are subject to investigation without obtaining a warrant beforehand.

According to datacentermap.com, there are currently 118 colocation datacenters established in India. Most datacenter facilities are established in Bangalore (21), closely followed by Mumbai (20), then distantly by New Delhi (13). The remainder of facilities are distributed across smaller cities, such as Hyderabad (9), Jaipur (7), Kolkata (4), etc.

Prominent Colocation Providers in Bangalore

Prominent colocation providers located in Bangalore include the following:

– Sify Bangalore
– BSNL-SIS Datacenter
– Net4 Datacenter
– Go4Hosting
– Reliance IDC
– Trijit Technologies

Bangalore Colocation – BSNL-SIS Datacenter

One of the largest colocation providers situated in Bangalore is BSNL-SIS Datacenter. This company owns and operates a state-of-the-art colocation facility located in a convenient area in Bangalore, which is one of the most sought after in the region both for colocation and other hosting-related services. Services provided at this location include the following:

– rental of suites, cages, rack cabinets, footprints, and diverse enclosures, in addition to dedicated servers and virtual servers

The datacenter facility features an extensive series of amenities, which consists of the following:

– high security standards
– seismically-braced racks and cabinets
– redundant HVAC environmental cooling systems
– redundant UPS power equipment
– multiple power feeds
– primary and backup diesel generators
– state-of-the-art fire suppression system

Prominent Colocation Providers in Mumbai

In Mumbai, important colocation providers that we can mention consist of the following:

– Web Werks India Ltd.
– NTT Communications Corporation
– Tata Communications
– BSNL IDC

Mumbai Colocation – Web Werks

One of the largest providers located in Mumbai is Web Werks. This company operates a state-of-the-art datacenter facility built in 2012, which caters to the needs of both small and large businesses, as well as industrial groups. Web Werks has a client base of more than 50,000 customers from all around the world.

Services provided at this facility are as follows:

– rental of suites, cages, footprints, racks
– hosting of individual servers
– dedicated servers
– virtual servers

Among the amenities featured at this location, we can underline:

– N+1 UPS power equipment
– N+1 cooling equipment
– diverse fiber entry points into the building
– primary and backup diesel generators
– state-of-the-art facility, monitored 24/7

Colocation Industry in India

India is one of the most developed colocation markets in the world, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. Current trends indicate sustained growth in this sector, driven by consistent demand that not only stems from local customers looking for local solutions, but also from international customers who are attracted preponderantly to the country’s affordability and reliability of colocation services. Providers established in the Asia Pacific region accrued an impressive combined revenue of $12 billion in 2016, which comes quite close to North America’s colocation revenue for the same year, sitting at approximately $14 billion. According to Gartner Incorporated, India’s market alone amounts to $1.3 billion.

Advantages for Colocation

There are numerous reasons that have contributed to the readily apparent success of India’s colocation market. We may underline the most important ones as follows:

– India can easily claim the moniker of “the land of outsourcing”. A lot of businesses that are headquartered in expensive countries such as the US or the UK actually carry out most of their operations in India or similar countries.
– Very low costs of electricity ($0.08 per kWh), which means that providers can save up a lot of money than if they were to operate in the United States or Canada for instance.
– A lot of supply for colocation space, with very high vacancy rates. New facilities are being built in large numbers.
– India boasts a veritable IT ecosystem, giving birth to a plethora of colocation experts.
– relatively low risks for natural disasters, but not lower than surrounding markets.
– ever-growing market with a lot of potential for surpassing other countries.

India is regarded as one of the most prominent web hosting markets in the world, due to the big cluster of hosting providers established locally. India is preferred by a great number of customers to the detriment of other countries largely because almost all web hosts can afford to provide reliable services for dirt cheap prices; at some companies, prices start at as low as $0.20 per month for Shared Hosting plans, which, according to many reviews, are actually fairly decent in terms of quality. However, the market is somewhat chaotic, or rather misleading. We have observed that many companies are in fact resellers, and very rarely did we stumble across a company which actually mentions this aspect in their Terms of Service. Furthermore, transparency of service seems to lack, and overselling practices are ubiquitous among the great majority of providers. Most of them also provide little to no information regarding the actual location of their servers. However, if your only objective is to find the cheapest hosting services out there, Indian web hosts can definitely meet your needs.