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 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!