Xmas sees voice boom

Local mobile operators saw an overall increase in voice calls this festive season, as the recession did not deter users from connecting with family and friends.

SA's third mobile operator, Cell C, saw its voice traffic double on Christmas Day, to reach 40 million calls.

This is a substantial increase from the 24 million calls that went out on 25 December 2008. In addition, Cell C found more calls were made this year over Christmas than New Year's Eve. Cell C recorded more than 37 million calls made via its network on 31 December, compared to just over 21 million for the same period in 2008.

On 25 December, Cell C saw lower SMS volumes than voice calls. SMSes reached 28 million on Christmas Day, compared to the 22 million SMSes recorded in 2008.

According to the telco, close to 19 million SMSes were sent on 31 December, which was approximately equal to volumes on the same day in 2008.

Dennis Abella, Cell C's executive head of operations, says Cell C's network traffic figures show a spike in call and SMS volumes when compared to 2008. He adds that Christmas Day and New Year's Eve are two of the busiest days in terms of traffic on the operator's network.

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Cellular giants Vodacom and MTN also noted an increase in network traffic during the festive season.

Bridget Bhengu, senior manager, PR and communication for MTN SA, says: “The volume of voice calls increased by approximately 70%, and the volume of SMSes increased by approximately 50%.”

Both JSE-listed MTN and Vodacom said they had no problems with their cellular networks due to increased network traffic over the Christmas and New Year periods.

However, Vodacom declined to provide exact details about the number of calls and SMSes on its network. A Vodacom spokesperson explained that, according to JSE rules, Vodacom will only be able to disclose specific network statistics during its next financial results announcement, in the first week of February this year.

Pasco Risk Management senior analyst Richard Hurst says high call rates were to be expected. “The mobile operators plan around the expected increased number of calls during the festive season.

“I think what's interesting is the high volumes of calls that will be made during the Fifa World Cup this year as visitors from all over the world use the local network to make calls to other countries.

“The mobile operators are planning to increase capacity for the anticipated growth in traffic during the World Cup.”