The number of person to person text messages sent across the UK’s four GSM networks during September beat all previous records to reach 1.73 billion, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association.
The UK daily average for September stands at 58 million, which compares to 28 million in the same period the previous year and just 36 million in September 2001.
The latest figures take the cumulative total for 2003 as a whole to 15 billion, against a twelve month forecast for the year of 20 billion, allowing for seasonal trends.
The MDA has this month been working with the BBC to create the new ‘Talking Teenagers’ campaign, which encourages parents, grandparents and children to keep in touch via text. A number of special text workshops have been helped throughout the country and a pocket guide to text has been produced for consumer over the age of fifty.
A recent survey from Txt4 revealed that nearly 30% of respondents to SMS marketing messages are consumers in their 40s and 50s. It also found that the average income amongst respondents to SMS marketing messages was £28,000.
