Mumbai, Jan 01: Short Messaging System (SMS) has become the season's favourite messenger, with most of the mobile telephony service providers registering a quantum leap in usage on the eve of the new year and today as "wishings" overflowed to yet another day. Airtel registered a 600 per cent increase in originating SMSs in its Mumbai circle during the two-day period, with the majority of the messages being sent on the peak utilisation period of January 1, company sources told news agencies here today.

The provider claims to have recorded an increase of 2.5 to three million SMSs, starting from December 31 midday and continued till the late evening of the New Year day, they said.

Company sources also said no clogging of network or delay in sending or receiving an SMS was experienced during the period and added that Airtel has a "robust" network, which could support a load of around five-lakh messages per hour.
BPL Mobile, another leading player in the region, said its SMSs during the two-day period doubled, with each day posting around 2.5 million messages. This is in comparison with an average day sending of around one to 1.24 million SMSs.

This was also on the higher side compared with that posted during the same period of the previous year, as mobile phone penetration was also on the higher side, sources said. The state-owned Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Ltd (MTNL) also recorded double the number of smss on the festive day on both its GSM and CDMA services, a spokesperson said.

Bureau Report