| A RECORD CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR FOR TEXTING |
04/01/07 |
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For Immediate Release : Thursday 04 January 07
Conditions Of Use : MDA to be credited as source.
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| Figures announced today by the Mobile Data Association (MDA) have seen staggering numbers of text messages sent over the festive season with Christmas Day and New Years Day 2007 totals beating all previous records. |
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On Christmas Day industrious texters sent over 205 million texts, an average of 8 million per hour. As 2007 dawned it seems that people in the UK were checking their phones as intently as their clocks with New Years Day* text messaging figures reaching a record breaking 214 million, almost 9 million per hour and the highest daily total ever recorded by the Mobile Data Association (MDA).
Person-to-person texts sent across the UK GSM network operators on New Year’s Day 2006 show a growth of 29% on the 2006 figure of 165 million, as increasing numbers of people chose text messaging to convey New Year messages. Revellers unsure as to whether or not the target of their message had managed to stay awake until midnight could rest assured that their wishes for a Happy New Year would still be discreetly delivered and read when appropriate.
Over the last six years text.it (www.text.it) has witnessed text messaging grow from a popular craze to becoming an essential communication tool, inclusive to all age groups. The MDA has forecast that figures will continue to rise this year to deliver an annual total of 45 billion text messages for 2007, with an average of 3.75 billion messages being sent per month and 123 million messages per day.
The full statistics of this text message explosion and monthly figure releases can be found at:
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- Previous New Year’s Day SMS Figures Monitored by the MDA:
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2004
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2005
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2006
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111 million
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133 million
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165 million
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- 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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