Saturday, March 18, 2006

SMS - a new record for Malaysian!

The usage of SMS among Malaysian has hit another new height with a new record being set in 2005 - 21.03 billion short message service (SMS) text messages with 6 billions sent during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali, Christmas and Chinese New Year seasons.

Comparatively, in 2004 handphone users sent 9.53 billion SMS messages, of which 4.94 billion were sent during the four festivals.

Just recall back on our own experiences on how many SMS that we sent and received during this period.

Akademi Fantasia - 12 million sms votes - vote for Mawi
Malaysian Idol - 1.67 million - vote for Daniel
8TV SuperStar - another new record?

May be UTAR can help to increase this usage by having SMS voting on UTAR Search etc.

Below is an article taken from New Straits Times, 16th March 2006.

The 21 billion SMS phenomenon

March 16:
MALAYSIANS sent a stunning 21.03 billion short message service (SMS) text messages last year, more than twice as many as in 2004.


More than six billion of these were sent during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Deepavali, Christmas and Chinese New Year seasons.

In 2004, handphone users sent 9.53 billion SMS messages, of which 4.94 billion were sent during the four festivals.

These figures were disclosed by Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik in the Dewan Rakyat, in a written reply to Razali Ibrahim (BN-Muar).

The sharp growth suggests that Malaysians are becoming increasingly comfortable with using this service, because it is cheaper and easier than most other modes of communication.

The popularity of SMS has been phenomenal. Apart from it being widely used to send festive greetings, many contests and reality shows on TV and radio allow participants to respond via SMS.

The conclusion of the third season of the Akademi Fantasia reality talent show, for instance, had the organisers’ hands full with 12 million SMS votes, most of which were for runaway winner Mawi.

The SMS boom for the show was felt in its second season in 2004, when the public responded with an astounding 20 million SMS messages within 10 weeks.

Another popular talent show was Malaysian Idol which also pulled in the SMS. Last season’s final had fans keying in 1.67 million messages.

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission in its Handphone Users Survey 2005 reported that 84.9 per cent of cellphone users sent at least one SMS a day, and 49.6 per cent sent at least five daily.

This was an increase from the previous year, when only 74.9 per cent sent at least one SMS a day and 31.7 per cent sent at least five a day, the report noted.

There are now about 17 million cellphone subscriptions in Malaysia on the five digital networks, with a huge majority of nearly 80 per cent in the 20-49 age-group.

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