UK Daily SMS Traffic Reaches 55 Million

Text messages sent each day in the UK continued to grow during February, according to figures released by the UK's Mobile Data Association (MDA). The total number of chargeable person-to-person text messages sent across the four UK GSM networks in February 2003 totalled 1.53 billion. February's figure takes the daily average to 55 million compared to 44 million in February 2002 and 28.8 million in February 2001.

As February's figures continue to show, texting has become the premier communication tool for the millennium. Six times (78 million) as many text messages were sent on Valentine's Day compared to traditional cards, as romantics across the UK sent messages of love to partners via text message.

July 2002 marked the launch of Phase 3 of the MDA's generic awareness campaign to promote the advantages of text messaging across all networks, building on the awareness of the 'text.it' brand established in Phase 1 & 2. 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"

Posted to the site on 24th March 2003