Key players in Australia’s telco industry Telstra and Optus both predicted a total of 90 million SMS messages would be sent through their networks on Christmas Day.
Consumer executive director for Telstra, Jenny Young, estimated about 38 of those SMS messages would be sent on their network.
She pointed out that as text messaging continues to grow in popularity, Telstra was expecting to topple last year’s record as Australians spread the Christmas cheer with their loved ones.
Optus has forecasted that its 8.2 million subscribers would send about 12 million more SMS’ than their competitors, with 50 million messages expected to be sent, about three times more than a normal day.
Consumer managing director for Optus, Michael Smith, said 2009 had seen a massive growth in the mobile phone market, and that the mobile phone had become an integral part in the way we live our lives.
He said that SMS communication continued to be a popular way for Australian’s to send greetings to loved ones both at home and overseas.
Optus has also forecasted that their customers would make 35 million fixed line calls and 42 million mobile calls, while Telstra has expected four million STD calls and 14 million calls from Mobiles would be made.
Christmas day also usually sees a spike in the number of international phone traffic, according to Ms Young.
Both telcos listed the UK, New Zealand and the United States as the most popular destinations for international calls at Christmas.