7.2 million New Year’s greetings sent by text; social media more popular than ever
The country’s largest telecoms operator Proximus has released figures on the number of New Year’s greetings sent by its customers on Friday night. While text (SMS) messaging remains a popular means of passing on New Year’s greetings to family and friends, a growing number of us are saying “happy New Year” via social media platforms and their related messing services.
The figures from Proximus show that this New Year’s Eve we sent a total of 7.2 million SMS text messages. This is more or less the same as on 31 December 2020. However, it is well down on the 11.7 million SMS text messages sent on New Year’s Eve 2019.
Meanwhile, the number of telephone calls made was 30% higher this New Year’s Eve than it was last year.
The most noticeable trend is the considerable growth in the amount of mobile data exchanged on New Year’s Eve. 35% more mobile data was used on 31 December 2021 than was the case on 31 December 2020. The amount of mobile data exchanged on New Year’s Eve has doubled in just three years.
Meanwhile, the volume of non-mobile internet traffic continues to grow and grow. On 31/12/21 the volume of data used by the country’s WI-FI networks was 75% higher than it was on 31/12/19. However, this could well be, in part at least, due to us having celebrate New Year at home rather than in bars, restaurants or night clubs.