New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) Riding the popularity of ultra cheap data packs offered by Reliance Jio, which has amassed 28 crore subscribers in a short time, India has emerged as the country that provides mobile data at the lowest rate in the world, a new study says.

Indians pay on an average Rs 18 for one gigabyte (GB) of data against a global average of Rs 600, showed the research by price comparison site Cable.co.uk.

"A country whose young population has a particularly high technological awareness, India offers a vibrant smartphone market, with strong adoption and many competitors. Data, therefore, is quite staggeringly cheap," said the report.

With over 430 million smartphone users, India is the second largest smartphone market in the world after China.

For the study, data from 6,313 mobile data plans in 230 countries were gathered and analysed by Cable.co.uk between October 23 and November 28, 2018.

For the India market, researchers studied 57 plans and found that 1GB of data was available in the country for as low as Rs 1.41 and for a maximum of Rs 98.83.

In terms of inexpensive mobile data packages, India is followed by Kyrgyzstan ($0.27),
Kazakstan ($0.49), Ukraine ($0.51) and Rwanda ($0.56).

According to the study, 1GB of data cost $6.66 in the UK and $12.37 in the US.

Mobile data packages are the most expensive in Zimbabwe where 1GB of data can cost on an average $75.20, the results showed.

--IANS gb/pcj