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India’s monopoly to end as Nepal gets trade point in China
Kathmandu: Stung by the bitter lessons from Madhesi blockade of India trade points that caused acute fuel shortage, Nepal on Monday signed a transit and transportation treaty with China for its third-country commerce — a move that is likely to end New Delhi’s monopoly over the landlocked Himalayan nation’s trade through Haldia port in Kolkata.
The two countries signed the agreement along with nine other treaties in Beijing, a day after Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli began a week-long trip to China. Oli’s maiden visit as the Nepal prime minister comes at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang.
The visit is significant in the light of Nepal’s efforts to reduce its decades old dependence on India after Madhesi protestors in southern plains, agitated over the the new Constitution, blocked supply trucks coming in from the southern neighbour.
The five-month long blockade caused huge crises as fuel and medicine supplies dried up. Kathmandu blamed New Delhi for supporting the protestors but the allegation has been denied. The blockade halted for months Nepal’s third-country trade, apparently prompting the Nepalese government to look for an alternative to the Haldia port.
The transit agreement with China gives Nepal an option to use the next nearest Tianjin port in China that is 3,000 km from Nepal border. India’s Haldia port is 1,000 km away.
However, there are concerns that Nepal cannot immediately use the Chinese port as infrastructure in the tiny country is poor and the Chinese side is located at a higher altitude.
Other important agreements signed during Oli’s visit on Monday include an accord on the construction of a bridge in Hilsa, far west Nepal, that will connect the republic with Tibet. Hilsa was a traditional trade route to Nepal.
China has also pledged $216-million soft loan to Nepal for construction of a regional airport in the second largest city of Pokhara, some 200 km from Kathmandu.
The two neighbours also signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to boost the bilateral trade. China has also agreed to explore oil and gas resources in Nepal and will provide all technical and economic support for it.
One of the commercial banks in China has also agreed to open its office in Nepal. Similarly, Nepalese banks can also open their branches in China.
China has also agreed to help in installation of solar panels in 32,000 Nepalese households.
Agreements in the fields of science and technology, sister-city relations between various Nepalese and Chinese cities, and establishment of Nepal’s Consular General Office in Chengdu, China, were also signed, said Gopal Khanal, foreign relations expert to Prime Minister Oli.
International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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