Airwide Stats Show Messaging On The Up

Mobile messaging company Airwide Solutions has released the results of an independent study conducted by comScore M:Metrics on the use of mobile messaging across the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. Airwide says the results prove that despite warnings of turmoil throughout the global economy, growth in mobile messaging shows no signs of slowing. The study shows that the number of people sending text messages across the EU is growing 3.3% year on year, a figure only beaten by MMS, which is growing by 9.2%.
The UK is faring particularly well, with over 25 million text messages sent each day. Growth is driven in particular by people who earn over 30,000, with a 16.9% year-on-year increase in the number of people in this group sending text messages every day. Among those earning less than 30,000, there has been 4% annual growth in the number of people sending text messages every day.
France is seeing the second biggest increase, with 8.1% more people sending text messages this year than the same period last year. Interestingly the French have also been the most keen to embrace picture messaging, with 15.2% more people sending MMS than in 2007, the largest increase across Europe.
Its not only Europe which is seeing a continued growth in SMS and MMS activity, however. Airwide predicts a worldwide growth in mobile messaging over the next few years, particularly in less economically developed and newly industrialised regions such Asia and Africa, where fixed lines are expensive and difficult to set up. In these regions, mobile phones are being used not only as a communications tool, but also as a driver for social change, making communications easier, cheaper and much less time-consuming.
In the western world, says Airwide, growth will be fuelled by a combination of mobile operators introducing a greater number of personalised services, such as out-of-office, auto-forward and storage/back-up capabilities. along with a continued uptake in mobile marketing and advertising.
Whilst an increase in mobile messaging traffic is certainly good news for the industry, it also underlines the need to ensure that an operators underlying infrastructure is efficient and equipped to support the increase in traffic volumes over the years ahead, says Airwide Chief Marketing Officer, Jay Seaton. With most people now relying on their text and picture messages being delivered instantaneously, mobile operators cannot afford for their infrastructure to become congested. As the volume of messaging increases, they also need to be able to protect their networks and subscribers from potential security threats, such as mobile fraud, spam and viruses.