Text Messaging Craze Hots Up During August
Almost 1.7 billion person to person text messages were sent across the UK’s four GSM networks during August, according to the latest figures from the Mobile Data Association (MDA).
The recent heatwave did little to prevent mobile phone users from turning to text and an average of 55 million SMS messages were sent each day during the month. This takes the cumulative total for 2003 to 13.3 billion against a MDA forecast of 20 billion for the year as a whole.
Research from the MDA shows that 94% of 18 to 24 year-olds regularly send personal text messages and over a third of this age group claims to send 36 or more messages each week. A further 14% of consumers say they send business text messages via their mobile phones.
The text message craze shows no sign of slowing and the popularity of reality TV shows such as Fame Academy and Pop Idol helped July’s total to reach more than 1.68 billion, up from 1.3 billion in the same period the previous year (see Reality TV Helps To Boost July’s Text Message Total).
Recent figures from Icstis show that the number of complaints relating to unsolicited text messages has shot up eight fold in the past year. The industry regulator said that 90% of the 3,500 complaints it received related to spam messages for premium rate phone lines (see Watchdog To Crack Down On Unsolicited Text Message Ads).
Mobile Data Association: 01922 419600 www.mda-mobiledata.org
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