January Breaks Record For Texts Sent

Text messaging performed strongly in January 2005, with 2.5 billion sent during the month, overtaking December’s total and making a new record, according to figures released today by the Mobile Data Association (MDA).

Person to person texts sent across the UK GSM network operators last month rose by 15.7% on the same period last year, with 82 million messages being sent per day, the highest average daily figure recorded to date.

These latest figures clearly put text messaging on track towards achieving the MDA’a annual forecast of 30 billion texts for 2005.

January’s total was boosted by a massive 133 million messages being sent on New Years Day 2005 (see New Year Text Message Craze Sets Record). February’s total also looks set to be high, with Valentines Day seeing an impressive number of texts sent, as the MDA recorded 92 million messages over the day.

Research conducted by ICM in January, revealed that 72% of women actually prefer to use text messaging rather than talking and that one third of over 65s with mobile phones use text messaging on a regular basis.

Mobile Data Association: 01922 419600 www.mda-mobiledata.org

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