I filed a story today about Optus expecting a record number of text messages to be sent in Australia on New Year’s Eve.
I thought it was one of those quirky yarns that people would be interested to read.
Optus expects customers to send a record 57 million text messages and make 67 million mobile phone calls tomorrow. Last year, Optus mobile customers sent 44 million SMS and made 58 million mobile phone calls on New Year’s Eve.
On Christmas Day this year, Optus customers sent nearly 50 million text messages, an increase of 28pc from 2008.
The website stats went ballistic this afternoon. For most of the day there were more than 50 people on the site at any given time and most of them were reading that article.
I’ve traced most of the visitors to India. I can only assume the link showed up in a news search, because there was no standout referral site.
For the record, Telstra issued a similar media release shortly after I posted the Optus figures.
Telstra expects more than 66 million SMS to be sent across its network on December 31 and January 1, two million more than last year’s record.
Over New Year’s eve and day, Telstra customers are expected to make around 31 million mobile calls, up from 19.5 million last year.
Frankly, I can’t see the point of sending anyone a text message on New Year’s Eve. The recipient presumably knows the date already.
Update (December 31, 2011): Two years later than the original post it seems people still go into overdrive with SMS on New Year’s Eve.
According to one report, with New Year’s Eve marking the biggest peak of SMS traffic for the year, French mobile operators have made plans to manage demand and avoid some of the problems experienced last year.
Around 930 million text messages were sent at the start of 2011, placing huge demands on the networks of France’s three main operators.
This year, operators have put in place special teams to manage the flow of traffic as 2011 becomes 2012.
The article says an average text message takes seven seconds to reach the recipient. On New Year’s Eve it could take from a few minutes to several hours.
×0
