SA's main cellular operators again experienced a surge in network traffic during the festive season, but not all of them can immediately say how these traffic volumes compare to those of previous years.
Vodacom declined to release detailed results of festive season SMS and call traffic. However, Dot Field, chief communications officer for Vodacom Group, confirmed the numbers were higher than last year.
“In 2008, Vodacom noted significant increases in voice communication during both Christmas and New Year. A similar trend was noted in the number of SMS and MMS messages sent during Christmas and New Year when compared to the previous year. MMS messages also showed strong growth during the period.”
Rochelle van der Ross, external communications manager at MTN, states the network operator experienced five times the amount of SMS and call traffic compared to other times of the year. She claims MTN did not have any problems with congestion over the holiday period.
“On New Year's Eve and New Year's day, 26 million SMSes were sent from MTN handsets. At midnight, SMSes were being sent at a rate of 1 000 per second. Subscribers sent half a million MMSes around the New Year period, and made and received 228 million phone calls,” she notes.
Van der Ross adds: “On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 25.24 million SMSes were sent by MTN subscribers. 256 000 MMSes were sent on Christmas Day and there were approximately 145 million voice calls on Christmas Day.”
Detailed results of Cell C's traffic were not available, but the company says it did record increases from normal SMS and call volumes.
Karin Fourie, public and media relations manager for Cell C, states: “The company recorded an 80% increase in normal SMS volumes on Christmas Day, a 65% increase on New Year's Eve and a 40% increase on New Year's Day.”
She adds: “Call volumes increased by 10% on Christmas Day, 15% on New Year's Eve and 5% on New Year's day.”
Decongesting
Cell C says the absence of any reports of network crashes indicates it is doing something right. “We experienced no problems with increased call and SMS volumes over the festive season. We continuously monitor our network and have technicians on standby 24/7 to ensure Cell C subscribers enjoy uninterrupted service throughout the year,” says Steve Boiles, Cell C's acting COO.
Vodacom also claims it successfully dealt with high network traffic during the festive season by drawing up specific plans.
“Each year, an extensive capacity plan is drawn up based on historical traffic patterns, as well as the projected growth in the peak traffic for the coming holiday season. The capacity plan includes all aspects of the Vodacom network,” says Field.
“This plan is then implemented prior to the holiday season. During the holiday season, all holiday areas are carefully monitored for possible capacity problems and additional capacity is added where possible. Throughout the year, the complete network is monitored 24 hours per day to ensure the best possible service to customers.”
Expected increase
BMI-TechKnowledge analyst Fezekile Mashinini says: “It is difficult to comment on traffic volume trends that happened over a three-week a period. However, one would expect increased call activity and SMS growth as people send each other Christmas wishes.”
Mashinini notes the mobile market continues to be competitive and will experience more traffic. “The mobile market continues to demonstrate competition among operators, with all of them increasingly targeting the lower end of the market for growth.”
He adds that more traffic is being shifted to the mobile networks and that the range of offerings from mobile network operators - such as MTN Zone and Vodacom Yebo4Less - will increase consumers' usage of mobile services.
Related stories:
Record messaging traffic during silly season
MTN flattens peak traffic
Namibian SMS traffic soars
Share