| UK TEENS SEND MILLIONS OF EXAM TEXTS |
05/09/06 |
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For Immediate Release : Tuesday 05 September 06
Conditions Of Use : MDA to be credited as source.
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| Figures released today by the MDA (Mobile Data Association) show that August saw two of the biggest days for text messaging so far this year, as youngsters shared their GCSE and A-level results via SMS. |
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A total of 137 million text messages were sent on August 17th, the day that A-level results were issued. This figure is over one third higher than the 99 million text messages sent on the equivalent day last year and confirms the upward growth of text as the major communication method for the UK’s youth.
The figure for August 24th, the day GCSE results were released, was almost as high with a total of 136 million messages sent across the UK networks. These totals are only beaten by those sent on England’s World Cup 2006 match days and the total for New Year’s Day 2006.
A recent survey has shown that students would like to receive their results by SMS. The governments E-envoy office (responsible for advising government on all IT/IS issues) have predicted that sending results by SMS will revolutionise and speed up the publication of exam results. In a study undertaken by Orange the majority of students would prefer to receive their results via text message. 62% of students are in favour of getting their grades sent directly to their mobile phones, rather than having to rely on the postman to ensure they are delivered on time.
Convenience and freedom topped the list of reasons why text messages were seen as a good means of releasing the results.
A spokesman said: "Most students own mobile phones and are familiar with sending and receiving information as text messages.”
(source M:Science.com)
Over the last seven years text.it (www.text.it) has witnessed text messaging grow from a popular craze to becoming an essential communication tool. The full statistics of this text message explosion and monthly figure releases can be found at: http://www.text.it/mediacentre/press_release_list.cfm |
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- The highest ever monthly total for text messages was 3.5 billion in July 2006.
- 6th December 2005, the Mobile Data Association (MDA) forecast that text messaging figures would rise to deliver an annual total of 36.5 billion text messages for 2006. This estimate was revised in August 2006 to 40 billion.
- May 2006 marked the launch of Phase 7 of the MDA’s generic awareness campaign to promote the advantages of text messaging across all networks, and provide a current information service through the text.it website for both consumers and business users. The consumer campaign targets both users and non-SMS users. The corporate programme focuses on business end-users and incorporates a web-based information service.
- The Mobile Data Association (MDA) was established in 1994 to increase awareness of mobile data amongst users and their advisers. The MDA acts as a focal point for its members, (vendors and users) and outside parties interested in knowing more about the industry
- The MDA announces the total number of chargeable person-to-person text messages sent on behalf of the UK GSM Network operators. These figures are announced in the third week of the following month. For further information visit the MDA website at www.themda.org or the Text It Campaign web site at www.text.it
Mike Short, MDA Chairman is available for comment. |
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For further information or to arrange an interview please contact Mark Hawkins at the MDA Press Office :
Tel: +44 (0) 7949 023795
email: mark.hawkins@themda.org
www.text.it |
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