Millions of good wishes sent via mobile phone
People in Switzerland have outdone themselves once again through “happy new year” wishes sent via their mobile phones.
Between December 31, 2010 and January 1, 2011, the three major mobile phone operators counted a total of 116.1 million text and multimedia messages. That’s 6.1 million more than last year.
According to telecom expert Ralf Beyeler of consumer service Comparis, mobile phone users in Switzerland pay an average of SFr0.15 ($0.16) per SMS.
He estimated that providers Swisscom, Sunrise and Orange earned SFr17 million on text messages sent on those two days.
New year’s business was even better than Christmas. From December 24-26, people in Switzerland sent 73.5 million SMS and MMS.
In a related report released on Sunday, Comparis found that most Swiss were satisfied with their mobile phone service.
However, it also suggested that consumers could save as much as SFr1.7 billion a year by choosing more suitable service plans.
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