Record SMS and MMS figures for all local mobile operators show thumb happy South Africans splurged on communication over the festive season, with some 1.55 billion SMSes and 10.1 million MMSes sent during the festive season.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of research house World Wide Worx, says SMS is the most expensive form of communication per word. "SMS has low priority over voice calls, and, as a result, is low-cost and high-profit margin for mobile operators."
He notes that there will be a slow down in SMS traffic in the long-term as soon as instant messaging platforms become more compatible. However, Goldstuck says that currently messaging is the biggest money-spinner for cellular companies, driving even more revenue than voice services.
Record figures
Vodacom SA spokesman Dot Field says 350 million SMSes were sent on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, compared to some 260 million during the same period last year.
"Of interest is the increase in MMSes sent over this period," notes Field. "We have separate figures for MMS traffic.
"Last year's Christmas period saw 780 000 MMSes sent. The traffic increased to 1.3 million over this year's Christmas period.
"Last year's New Year's day saw 450 000 MMSes sent. The traffic this year increased to 1.4 million over the New Year period. This is an indication that subscribers are more in tune with technology and making great use of its benefits," she adds.
MTN spokesman Wandile Mkhatshwa says the company's MMS traffic grew 400%, to 8.8 million, while SMS traffic jumped to 1.17 billion over December, including New Year's day, compared to last year's 60 million SMSes over the same period, a 49 % increase.
The operator reports its voice traffic soared to 1.87 billion calls, up 46% from last year.
Cell C's head of customer applications and services, Dennis Magaya, reports an increase in Cell C's traffic to 35 million over Christmas Eve and Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's day.
Virgin Mobile does not have figures available at this stage.
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