Telia Predicts SMS Record on Christmas Eve

Using the phone to wish people a Merry Christmas is becoming more and more popular in Sweden. One-third of the 10,000 people who responded to Telia's annual Christmas survey stated that they would prefer to call, or send an SMS or MMS message, to convey their Christmas greetings. Telia is predicting that the Swedish people will set a record for SMS messages this year during the 24-hour Christmas Eve period.

This year two out of five people in Sweden will send their Christmas greetings by phone or computer. Sixteen percent would definitely prefer to call, compared with 13 percent in last year's survey. One out of ten Swedes said they like to e-mail their message and 12 percent stated that they would prefer to send their Christmas wishes by SMS. The corresponding figures for 2005 were 12 and 11 percent, respectively.

In Sweden, people living in the north, in the Norrbotten region, use the phone the most, with 20 percent of them calling and 17 percent sending their Christmas greeting by SMS. Kalmar County places last, with only 12 percent phoning a Christmas message, and 12 percent preferring to send an SMS message.

"On Christmas Eve 2005, people in Sweden sent 6.2 million SMS messages through our mobile network and we are expecting over 7 million messages this year. We are also seeing that MMS messaging is gaining in popularity and we're glad that so many people want to receive a Christmas message with text, picture and sound," says Indra

Posted to the site on 15th December 2006