Kerala Tops in Twin-Phone Connectivity : Census 2011

Kerala tops the country in terms of households having both landline and mobile phone with 31.3 per cent boasting of twin connectivity compared to the national average of six per cent. This emerges out of the section that deals with households having assets in Census 2011.

Only the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, where 39 per cent of the total households have both landline and mobile phone, is ahead of Kerala. Considering the fact that the archipelago accounts for only 10,703 households, makes it pale in comparison with the achievement of the State, which has a total of 77.16 lakh households.

In terms of total telephone penetration also Kerala is among the top three with 89.7 per cent households having either mobile phone or landline. Again this is way ahead of the national average of 63.2 per cent. Only Lakshadweep with 93.7 per cent and Delhi with 90.80 per cent are ahead of the State. Kerala also has one of the largest penetrations in terms of households having landline alone. With 11.6 per cent of the total households having landline, it is second only to Goa where 12.1 per cent of the 3.22 lakh households possess landline. It is almost a three-fold increase over the national average where only four per cent of the 24.66 crore households possess landline. The State, however, ranks only 25th among the 35 States and Union Territories and also below the national average of 53.2 per cent when it comes to households having mobile phones only. Only 46.8 per cent of the 77.16 lakh households in the State depend on mobile phones alone.

Despite a relatively low desktop or laptop computer penetration in households with Internet connection, the State's average of 6.3 per cent is more than double the national average of 3.1 per cent of the total households. The Union Territory of Chandigarh with 18.8 per cent households, Delhi with 17.6 per cent, and Goa with 12.7 per cent rank above Kerala.

In terms of desktop or laptop computer penetration in households without Internet connection, Kerala comes fifth with 9.5 per cent though it tops the national average of 6.4 per cent. Kerala's total desktop or laptop computer penetration of 15.8 per cent of the total households is much more than the national average of 9.5 per cent.

- MP Praveen, The Hindu