Record number of mobile phone messages sent over festive season

MOBILE telephone customers sent record numbers of messages over the festive season, with almost 50 million texts and pictures sent by customers of one network alone.

O2 logged a record 6.4 million outgoing texts (SMS) and picture messages (MMS) on Christmas Day, up from 6.1 million a year earlier.

An even steeper increase was experienced on New Year’s Eve, with nine million messages sent up to midnight, compared to 8.2 million on December 31, 2003. Based on market share figures, this suggests more than 22 million text messages were sent by mobile phone owners in the last hours of 2004.