As Spain commemorates its most significant footballing achievement in history, data from Airwide Solutions reveals that Spaniards across the country turned to text to celebrate.  According to Airwide’s data, traffic spiked by 778.4 per cent in the minutes following the game.

In the five minutes before the game, the number of text messages sent rose by 40.7 per cent compared to the two hours before the game started. Once the game started, SMS traffic dropped 46.9 per cent. Traffic then remained steady throughout the game rising slightly (9.7 per cent) during extra time. In the minutes following the game, text messaging traffic saw its greatest spike, rising 778.4 per cent.  

“Our statistics show the impact big sporting events like the World Cup have on mobile traffic,” says Airwide CMO, Jay Seaton. “Dramatic peaks in messaging traffic are becoming more frequent and more pronounced, not only due to the continued increased use of SMS globally but also because of the popularity of text message based services such as social networking, mobile banking and mobile advertising.

“While increased traffic provides great revenue potential for operators, it also presents the challenges of ensuring that the underlying infrastructure does not become congested while subscribers send these time-sensitive messages, and that the operators networks and subscribers are protected from mobile fraud, spam and other security threats.”

Airwide notes that as one of the most text-savvy countries in Europe, SMS continues to play an increasingly important part in everyday life in Spain. In addition to being used to celebrate important milestones such as sporting wins and the New Year, text messaging is also frequently used by Spaniards to book doctor’s appointments and pay for goods and services. In addition, SMS voting is extremely popular in Spain with subscribers voting for anything from government officials to TV talent show contestants.