If you are a mobile user in India, chances are very high that you are troubled by the ever increasing spam SMS. Irrespective of whether you are registered with NDNC or not, you undergo the pain of reading those pesky text messages offering you anything from talk time deals to discount sale in town. When you receive a spam asking you to hurry up to buy ‘One of the few remaining flats in a new scheme, for Rs. 2 Crore’, you really wonder what is cheap, the SMS or the flat?
India already has 617 Million mobile user base and adding over 15 Million subscribers every month. With this massive and fast growing market and decreasing SMS cost, the problem of spam is going to grow manifold. A simple calculation on time wasted reading spam SMS will give some idea on what we are losing as country.
Here is how I came up with this number of $795 Million
Average time to read spam SMS= 10 seconds
(Note that actual time can be much more if we consider time required to take mobile from pocket or other location + reading the SMS + keeping mobile back + distraction in work because of this + irritation etc. But let’s assume it 10 seconds)
Average number of spam SMS received per subscriber per day= 3
Time wasted (in hours) in a year reading spam SMS= 10 x 3 x 365 / 3600 = 3.04 Hrs
Our current mobile user base= 617 Million. It is being added with average 15 Million more subscribers every month.
So in the next one year, our mobile user base will be nearly 800 Million users, i.e. average 715 Million constant throughout the year.
So, 715 Million people wasting around 3.04 Hrs of their time reading spam SMS in a year= 715 x 3.04 / (24 x 365) = 0.248 Million years of time wasted.
India’s per capita income is $ 3200. I.e. An Indian earns $ 3200 in a year. In other words, his one year’s time is worth $ 3200.
Thus, value of time wasted reading SMS spam =
0.248 x 3200 = $795 Million.
So, next time you receive a spam SMS, do not mistake it to be cheap!
This might be of value http://www.facebook.com/pages/Landline-Mobile-Do-Not-Call-Disturb-Issues-India/202531089788904?sk=wall
Thank You,
Shakti Saran
Thank You for sharing this.
I mentioned it on my group as comment while sharing on Sam Pitroda.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=309232032777
Thank You,
Shakti Saran
The institute offers leading training programs for Telecom, based on Lab/on-site practices and proven methodologies focused on GSM, CDMA & wireless technologies. The institute also offers training programs for Mobile repairing, We are a premier mobile phone repair training institute and one of the best in India with a well established training centre. We provide computerized mobile phone repair training starting from basics to chip level. Our Instructors are practicing GSM experts with adequate field experience in the GSM phone repair industry. We have trained hundreds of students who are working successfully in service centers or have set up their own businesses and shops. We aim to provide skilled and professional technicians to the wireless telecom industry.
Thanks @Altaf & @sheetal
Too good calculation. Also the figure which altaf has given is 1.35billion… By which the poverty of our country can be slowly eradicate over years.. Trust me guys 1.35billion is a huge amount..
Just for fun I extrapolated the calculation even further :-)
Indian polulation = 1.2 billion. Mobile holders = 715 million.
The rest of 485 million do not hold a mobile set fo rthe following reasons.
1) They are below poverty line,
2) May be they are kids in the age group of 1 day old toddlers to below teen agers.
In either case their earning is low compared to the otehr lot of 600 million. The per capita income of USD.3,200 is calculated to include those unfortunate 600 million.
Therefore if we consider the per capita income of only those 715 million people, it must be USD.5,400 (3,200 X 1.2 billion / 715 million)
Therefore the wastage = 0.248 X 5400 = USD.1.35 Billion.
@ Sagar, Nice way of quantifying the whole issue.
Jokes apart, it is annoying to get messages while we are in meetings. Also nowadays our mobiles ring and as we take the call, we get offers. Its irritating.