Acision, which supplies messaging and charging services to over 300 network operators and service providers worldwide, reports that according to its figures, global SMS traffic over the 2007/2008 New Year period increased by 30% compared with the same period last year. Around the world, phone users sent a staggering 43 billion text messages to wish their loved ones a Happy New Year – of which more than 23 billion were successfully processed through Acisions systems.
Growth was strong in both mature and emerging markets, the company notes. In Portugal, SMS traffic almost tripled across the festive period compared to last year, while Dutch operator KPN saw its messaging traffic double on New Years Eve. The most astounding growth figures came from developing markets, however. For example, the 220 million mobile subscribers in India sent over a billion text messages – a 300% increase on day-to-day volumes. The Philippines retained its title as the text messaging capital of the world – sending a remarkable 1.39 billion text messages from a subscriber base of just 50 million.
Messaging represents a significant slice of mobile operator revenues, and events like New Years Eve demonstrate how critical it is for operators to ensure a reliable and speedy service, says Acision Head of Messaging Futures, Steven van Zanen. One of our operator customers infrastructure operated under peaks of 19,000 messages sent per second without congestion or delay. The New Year figures are eagerly anticipated each year and this years record traffic levels again do not disappoint.”