Mobile messaging services grow across Europe

Posted by Alisa Zykova on January 5, 2009 at 10:12 PM

Airwide Solutions research last month has shown that text message use across some European countries is growing by 3.3 percent every year while multimedia messages are seeing a 9.2 percent increase in the region, eMarketer reported Monday.

"Whilst an increase in mobile messaging traffic is certainly good news for the industry, it also underlines the need to ensure that an operator's underlying infrastructure is efficient and equipped to support the increase in traffic volumes over the years ahead," Airwide Chief Marketing Officer Jay Seaton told eMarketer.

Revenue from vocal services on mobile devices has been declining and network operators may be shifting focus to mobile data services to boost profits. According to eMarketer, carriers are seeing a rise in all kinds of messaging services.

Users from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are texting more, eMarketer reported. In the United Kingdom, 25 million text messages were sent per day last year. Texting by individuals with incomes of £30,000 and higher is augmenting at a rate of 16.9 percent annually.