The figures are a major increase on last year, when around 14 million were sent on Orange and 6.5 million on MMO2. Both companies also saw a strong SMS performance at Christmas, with Orange users sending another 28 million and MMO2 subscribers sending 12 million.
SMS’ huge rise in popularity came despite the slowdown in mobile handset sales this holiday season. However, Datamonitor expects 2001 will be the peak year for SMS revenues. Mobile operators now need to build on the technology’s success to offer new premium services.
