One collapse: how India made data almost free.: What cost a day's wage in data became small change, almost overnight, after September 2016.

The price of a gigabyte fell by about 95 percent.. What cost a day's wage in data became small change, almost overnight, after September 2016.

One collapse: how India made data almost free.: Surfing the internet stopped being a luxury and became something you did without thinking about the cost.

Getting online got as cheap as a cup of tea.. Surfing the internet stopped being a luxury and became something you did without thinking about the cost.

One collapse: how India made data almost free.: A country that consumed a little data quietly became the planet's heaviest mobile-data user.

Within months, India led the world in data use.. A country that consumed a little data quietly became the planet's heaviest mobile-data user.

capsrow / the Global South

Invisible Giant

One collapse: how India made data almost free.

One price collapse rewired how a billion people live online.

By capsrow · Updated July 2026

The price of a gigabyte fell by about 95 percent.What cost a day's wage in data became small change, almost overnight, after September 2016.
Getting online got as cheap as a cup of tea.Surfing the internet stopped being a luxury and became something you did without thinking about the cost.
Within months, India led the world in data use.A country that consumed a little data quietly became the planet's heaviest mobile-data user.

One price collapse rewired how a billion people live online.

When Reliance Jio launched in September 2016, the cost of mobile data in India fell by roughly 95 percent - from a day's wage for a gigabyte to something as cheap as a cup of tea. Within months, a country that used data sparingly became the heaviest mobile-data user on earth.

When the floor drops out of the price, the whole country comes online.

Sources. Source: Quartz India; Scroll.in; TRAI, 2016-2017.