The number of Internet subscribers in the country grew 5.4 per cent to 251.59 million in January-March 2014 quarter, the Parliament was informed.
The number of Internet subscribers stood at 238.71 million in December 2013, Minister of Communications and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
“The National Telecom Policy, 2012, specifies a target of 175 million broadband connections by 2017 and 600 million broadband connections by 2020,” he added.
Of the 251.59 million Internet subscribers, about 60.87 million were broadband users.
Maharashtra (including Mumbai and Goa) had the highest number of Internet subscribers at over 40.21 million, followed by Uttar Pradesh (including Uttarakhand) at 24.32 million, Tamil Nadu 20.41 million and Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) at 17.63 million.
The Minister said Himachal Pradesh had the lowest number of Internet subscribers at 2.04 million.