SMS in South East Asia: 3 different paths

Cultural, calligraphic  & technical factors at play in explaining diverse text messaging markets in region

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) account for over a quarter of global SMS traffic. At the same time, they have widely diverse SMS markets that can be classified into 3 groups: 1) Indonesia and the Philippines where texting is a way of life and SMS revenues remain vital to the industry; 2) Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand where 4G networks and smartphone adoption is pulling cellphone owners to use Over The Top (OTT) alternatives for messaging; and 3) Indochinese nations where SMS never really took off with a key factor being limited availability of local character sets on cellphones.

Indonesia and the Philippines are in a class of their own both within ASEAN and the world. Filipinos send more text per user than any other country on the globe while Indonesia has the largest volume of SMS traffic in the region. Texting is a vital part of mobile operator revenues in these two countries generating US$ 3.5 billion in 2014 and accounting for almost 2/5ths of the total in the Philippines and a little over 1/5th in Indonesia. Though there has been some substitution by Internet-based texting applications, there has not been a wholesale decline, thanks in part to smart operator management trading extremely low text prices for volume. SMS is a way of life in both countries where as far back as 2008 it was cited as a “killer application” in the Philippines (SIDA, 2008, The innovative use of mobile applications in the Philippines) and the 2010 Indonesian census is referred to as the "SMS Census" (PRB, 2010, Communication Surprises in the 2010 Indonesian Population Census). The use of the Latin alphabet in these countries has also been a major factor driving texting. 

The smartphone revolution is impacting text markets in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. This trio has the highest smartphone penetration in the region and at 88% of the population, Singapore has the 2nd highest smartphone penetration in the world, after the UAE. While both Malaysia and Singapore had high texting usage in the past—partly due to widespread use of English and in the case of Malaysia, the Malay language using the Latin character set—it has been declining rapidly since 2010. SMS never really took off in Thailand due to the calligraphic challenge of typing Thai on a small cellphone. Any hope of it doing so effectively died when operators were awarded 3G frequency and rapidly migrated their subscribers to the new networks to avoid paying revenue sharing fees with the government. Thai operators have been actively promoting smartphones and SMS is estimated to account for only around US$100 million of total mobile service industry revenue in 2014.

Use of Khmer on cellphones in Cambodia

Indochina nations such as Cambodia and Laos suffer from the same problem as Thailand in that they not use the Latin alphabet. Worse, since they are relatively small markets, there was not a major effort to include Khmer and Laotian on older cellphones. Only around a third of Cambodian cellphones were Khmer-enabled in 2013. This figure had risen to almost two thirds in 2015 thanks to rapid adoption of smartphones but means that users will use Internet-based messaging rather than SMS. Another problem is that so many Cambodians were used to not having Khmer on their older handsets they just assume that smartphones don't either (see: Mobile Phones and Internet in Cambodia 2015). Countries in Indochina also persist with higher off-net pay as you go SMS tariffs. This detracts from the major benefit of SMS--it can be sent to any subscriber and not just those that have downloaded an Internet messaging application.

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The end of P2P SMS revenue?

It is becoming more difficult to determine revenue data for P2P SMS, particularly in markets where bundled mobile subscriptions are becoming increasingly prevalent. If unlimited voice, messaging and data are bundled in a mobile subscription plan, then how can their revenue shares be determined?

FCC, 2013, 16th Annual Mobile Report (Click to enlarge)

The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) used to estimate messaging revenue but gave up after 2008 due to the prevalence of bundled plans and now just identifies voice and data traffic although even splitting those is becoming increasingly problematic. In 2008, the FCC estimated that text messaging revenues in the United States were US$11.4 billion. With a total volume (sent and received) of just over 1 trillion messages, the average revenue per text message (sent and received) was US$0.011 (1.1 US¢). Similarly in 2015, the French regulator announced it would no longer provide a breakdown of mobile revenue due to the prevalence of bundled plans.

The difficulty of determining P2P SMS revenue is less of an issue in countries where prepaid is prevalent. Here it is relatively easy to determine messaging revenue based on pay per use or text plans. At the end of 2014, except for North America, there was sufficient messaging revenue statistics to estimate a global total. One can assign a value for North America based on the average price per message calculated for the rest of the world. The UK regulator, OFCOM, also has an estimate of global SMS revenue in its 2015 International Communications Report. The figures are somewhat close to the ictDATA numbers. Including the articifical estimate for North America results in a global estimate of US$52 billion for text messaging revenue  in 2014 compared to OFCOM's estimate of US$54 billion. Over time, as voice and messaging migrate to Internet-based applications, then all mobile revenues might be from data.

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SMS Statistics Explained

There are a number of supply and demand side indicators useful for analyzing the SMS market. On the supply side, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has identified the number of SMS sent as a relevant indicator to collect. The definition is provided in the ITU's Handbook for the Collection of Administrative Data on Telecommunications/ICT. The key point is that the definition refers to SMS "sent from mobile handsets to other mobile handsets (peer-to-peer), both to national and international destinations." The data are supposed to exclude "SMS received, value-added SMS, premium SMS and SMS sent from web-based services." In practice a number of countries do not strictly adhere to this definition, hampering comparability. 

ITU SMS Sent definition (Click to enlarge)

Countries where receiving party pays (RPP) has been the norm (i.e., operators charge users for both outgoing and incoming calls and texts) typically report both messages sent and received. This is the case for example for Canada, the United States and Singapore. The number of messages sent should roughly match the number received so the figure could be divided by two. There might be an imbalance between international SMS sent and received but in practice, overseas SMS accounts for only a small portion of the total. What is a bigger issue is whether the total traffic represents an accounting or technical measure. If it is an accounting measure, then the received text messages sent within a network (on-net) might not be included since the operator receives no payment for them. In that case, dividing the total traffic by two would underrepresent the sent messages. 

ANACOM, Mobile Service (click to enlarge)

Most SMS messages are to and from mobile subscribers. Take Portugal where 99.2% of text messages are between domestic mobile subscribers with international, Value-Added, Machine to Machine (M2M) and the fixed network accounting for a small proportion.

Most countries use a technical rather than accounting measure to record SMS traffic. This is because text messages can be bundled into a plan. The technical measurement ensures that all bundled SMS are recorded. Some countries use other methods. For example in Turkey, text messages were counted upon their arrival at the message switching center. However this resulted in text messages in Turkish being counted as more than one message. From 2014, messages were counted according to billing. As a result, SMS traffic dropped 18.2% in the first quarter of 2014 (compared to a drop of 5.7% the previous quarter and -7.2% the subsequent quarter).

The number of text messages sent per mobile subscriber per month can be calculated by dividing the number of text messages by the average number of subscribers (see this post for the top 10 in 2014).

Another ITU indicator is messaging revenue. Here the definition includes both SMS and MMS. MMS accounts for just a small proportion of total text so it is not a major issue that the revenue streams are combined. What is problematic is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to account for messaging revenue due to growing bundling of voice, message and text services.

ITU messaging revenue definition, (Click to enlarge)

The revenue data allow the Average Revenue Per Text to be calculated. This is calculated for India where the underlying data is published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (India). In the 2nd quarter of 2015, ARPT was 0.24 US¢.  SMS accounted for 2.4% of mobile revenues in India during that period.

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ITU SMS price definition (click to enlarge)

Other pricing indicators include the actual tariff for an SMS. Here the ITU asks for the prices of an on-net and off-net pay as you go SMS. Prices for some African nations are shown in this post.

The SMS Termination Rate (STR) is the amount that one operator charges another to deliver a cross network message. In some countries, Sender Keeps All (SKA) is used whereby operators keep all of the revenue from and do not charge for delivering cross network texts. Other countries have STRs that are either agreed amongst operators or established by the regulator. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) publishes STRs for their region (see this post).

Pew text messaging (click to enlarge)

On the demand side, the percentage of mobile users who send a text message reflects the popularity of the service. A few countries compile this. The Pew Research Center has compiled data on SMS users in a number of countries with the proportion of mobile users sending text ranging from 98% in the Philippines to just 37% in Pakistan. This indicator is useful for gauging demand and analyzing why SMS usage is so much more popular in some countries than others (e.g., pricing, literacy, etc.).The intensity of usage can also be obtained from surveys. For example in France, texters are asked how many they send a week (101 in 2014, see post).

SMS can be contrasted with other messaging methods. Ongoing panel surveys from ONTSI in Spain found that in the 1st quarter of 2014, only 5.5% of Spaniards 15 years and older sent a text message every day compared to 22% who used their mobile phone to send an email (ONTSI, 2015, “Las TIC en los hogares españoles”, http://www.ontsi.red.es/ontsi/es/estudios-informes/xlvi-oleada-del-panel-hogares-“las-tic-en-los-hogares-españoles”-4t2014)

The purpose of SMS could also be derived from surveys. A Canadian survey found that of those who text, 18% use SMS to contact family each day and 32% to contact friends (Statistics Canada, 2014, Canadians’ connections with family
and friends, http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2014006-eng.htm).

SMS and Data

One factor impacting SMS usage is the increase in smartphones and hence greater use of Internet-based messaging alternatives. A chart from the Irish electronic communications regulator illustrates this tendency showing SMS volumes declining while data usage is rising rapidly.

Comreg, Irish Communications Market [Click to enlarge]

Similarly the Luxembourg Institute of Regulation (ILR) shows voice, text and data traffic generated over the country's mobile networks, with the latter growing rapidly.

ILR, Rapport statistique des télécommunications [Click to enlarge]

Despite the rapid growth of data use, SMS is still a leading activity for cellphones, even smartphones. A survey of smartphone owners across 8 countries published by OFCOM, the electronic communications regulator in the UK, found that SMS was the most popular use, except in Japan, Germany and Spain. In Japan, SMS has never caught on with users preferring email while in Germany and Spain, high prices for SMS has discouraged use.

OFCOM, International Communications Market Report 2015 [Click to enlarge]

SMS in Sub-Saharan Africa 2014

While SMS is declining in most developed markets due to competition from Internet-based messaging applications, the picture is more nuanced in Sub-Saharan Africa. In some countries, growth has been explosive, in others it has been flat and in a few, usage is declining. Tanzania is the region's SMS superstar with the highest volume of SMS (34 billion sent) and the highest number of text messages sent per subscriber per month (96) in 2014. 92% of Tanzanian cellphone owners use SMS, the 2nd highest proportion in the region among countries for which such statistics are available. Growth has also been solid in Kenya. It is interesting that texting growth continues given that newer subscribers tend to be more marginal and not intensive SMS users. SMS has been in decline in two of the region's more sophisticated mobile markets, Mauritius and South Africa, no doubt due to rising smartphone penetration and alternative messaging applications.  In some countries, the SMS market is stagnant. Nigeria is a good example where despite regulatory interventions by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to lower SMS prices, the market is flat with barely over 1 billion texts sent in 2013. NCC reduced the SMS termination rate to N1.02 (0.64US¢) in 2009 and established an off-net price cap of N4 (2.5 US¢) in 2013. It seems to have had little impact where on average a mobile subscriber sends just 1 text per month even though Nigeria has relatively low retail prices and 80% of mobile users claim to text. Substitutes for texting are likely prevalent in Nigeria; according to Facebook there were 12 million Nigerians using their mobile phone to access the social network in December 2015, the largest market in the region. 

In general, prices would seem to stimulate usage. In Kenya it costs just 1.1 US¢ to send a text for those not on a plan. In Tanzania, an SMS data plan gives 10 texts a day for 9.1 US¢. Familiarity with other popular text-type applications may make users comfortable with SMS. This appears to be the case in Kenya and Tanzania where there is high mobile money use. 

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Some 130 billion SMS were sent by Sub-Saharan African mobile subscribers in 2014, generating estimated revenues of US$ 1.7 billion for the region's mobile operators.

The universality of SMS—it works on the most basic phone—makes it an attractive platform for social and economic development interventions. Take health where ta number of SMS-based applications have been developed in the region. Examples include:

• In Kenya, weekly text SMS were sent to AIDS patients to remind them to take their antiretroviral drugs. Those who received the text messages had significantly higher rates of taking the drugs than those who did not receive them. *
• In the Zambia, the free U-Report SMS service targeting youth offers information on HIV/AIDS and STDs (left). It had some 41,000 users by February 2014. Some two thirds have contacted counsellors through SMS, generating an average of four requests per user. On average, each of the three counsellors fields 80 SMS requests every day.**
• In Senegal, mobile subscribers can send an SMS to a special number to receive a message listing open pharmacies in the vicinity.  ***

* Lester et al. 2010. “Effects of a Mobile Phone Short

Message Service on Antiretroviral Treatment Adherence in

Kenya (WelTel Kenya1): A Randomised Trial.” The Lancet. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61997-6/abstract

** UNICEF. 2014. Zambia U-report, Revolutionizing HIV Response among Adolescents and Young People through SMS. http://newsletter.childrenandaids.org/zambia-u-report-revolutionizing-hiv-response-among-adolescents-and-young-people-through-sms/

*** Sen Santé Pharmacie, une solution innovante d’accès aux pharmacies de garde par SMS, http://healthcare.orange.com/a-la-une/a-la-une/2014/Sen-Sante-Pharmacie-une-solution-innovante-d-acces-aux-pharmacies-de-garde-par-SMS

Also see: SMS texting is helping solve Africa’s health infrastructure problem, http://qz.com/502706/sms-texting-is-helping-solve-africas-health-infrastructure-problem/
Pew, Cell Phones in Africa: Communications Lifeline, http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/

French SMS market 2014

France is one of the more robust text messaging markets in the world. French mobile subscribers sent almost 200 billion SMS in 2014, making it the world's 7th largest market.  Despite increasing competition from Internet-based messaging services, SMS and MMS revenues have declined marginally since 2010, from US$3.2 billion to US$2.9 billion while traffic has increased. One reason is the country has one of the lowest SMS termination rates in Europe (1.3 US¢), encouraging use. According to the French electronic communications regulator ARCEP, messaging made up 15.5% of total mobile revenues in 2014, unchanged from 2013. ARCEP will no longer publish messaging revenues from 2015 since bundling and add-on plans have made it more difficult and artificial to allocate revenue to different services.

In terms of usage, France ranks 5th in the world with a mobile subscriber sending an average of 245 SMS per month. CRÉDOC ("Centre de Recherche pour l'Étude et l'Observation des Conditions de Vie" / Research Institute for the Study and Monitoring of Living Standards) carries out annual surveys on ICT use. In 2014 it reported that 74% of the French population 12 years and older sent SMS (equivalent to 83% of mobile telephone users). These users sent on average 101 text per week in 2014, but marked the first time usage dropped. This is more than 1.6 times the calculated figure which includes all mobile subscribers and not just those that text.

ARCEP, Observatory of the Electronic communications market in France, http://www.arcep.fr/index.php?id=12954&L=1
CRÉDOC,  La diffusion des technologies de l information et de la communication dans la société française (2014), http://www.credoc.fr/publications/abstract.php?ref=R317

For another perspective and historical data see: "SMS volume in France grows 30 percent", http://www.netsize.com/sms-volume-in-france-grows-30-percent/

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From World SMS Markets 2014. Features 10 year time series of P2P  SMS traffic for over 50 countries accounting for over 95% of the world SMS market as well as supplementary data for select countries (messaging revenue, SMS users (% of mobile users), SMS termination rates).To order, contact us.

Global SMS market 2014

The number of SMS sent by mobile subscribers around the world continued to decline in 2014. After peaking at 6.6 trillion messages in 2012, the text message market dropped 7% from 2013 to reach 6.0 trillion messages in 2014. Nonetheless SMS continues to remain attractive particularly given its universality--any mobile subscriber can be reached by a text message.

The 6.0 trillion messages sent around the world in 2014 translate to some 16 billion per day. The statistics indicate that mobile subscribers around the world sent on average 73 SMS per month. The average retail price of a SMS was 0.7 US¢ (US$0.007) in 2014 (calculated as messaging revenue / number of SMS). This translates into retail revenues of around US$ 44 billion from peer to peer text messages for the world's mobile operators.It's quite astounding that a difference of 0.1 US¢ in average revenue per text makes of difference of US$6 billion in revenues.

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From World SMS Markets 2014. Features 10 year time series of P2P SMS traffic for over 50 countries accounting for over 95% of the world SMS market as well as supplementary data for select countries (messaging revenue, SMS users (% of mobile users), SMS termination rates).

To order, contact us.
Revised 13 Dec. 2015

Philippines tops for SMS usage in 2014

The Philippines remains at the top of the SMS usage ranking for 2014. It temporarily lost top spot to Costa Rica for one year in 2011. Text messaging skyrocketed in Costa Rica following the launch of competition in the mobile market in 2011. Statistics on SMS usage in Costa Rica only became available from the regulator after our 2011 SMS market review was conducted. Similarly, SMS data for New Zealand has only recently become available from that country's Commerce Commission which would rank the nation 7th in 2011. By 2014, Costa Rica had fallen to 10th with growing mobile data usage usurping texting.  Malaysia and Turkey fell out of the top ten in 2014, replaced by France and Argentina. SMS usage remains firm in the US, Canada, Venezuela, Indonesia and Pakistan.

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SMS interconnection rates and text message usage in Europe

European countries with low SMS termination rates generate more text message traffic.

According to the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), the simple average SMS termination rate in the region was €2.35 cents (US 3.13¢) per message at the end of 2014 (see figure below). The termination rate is the amount that one mobile operator must pay another mobile operator to deliver a cross-network SMS. In Serbia and Slovenia, there is no SMS termination rate. The highest rate is in the Netherlands (5.60) and the lowest in Denmark (0.15).

SMS termination rate, 1 January 2015, source: BEREC (click to enlarge).

The figure below shows a plot of SMS interconnection rates compared to the number of SMS sent per mobile subscriber per month. The average is around 75 SMS sent per mobile subscriber per month. All of the countries except one with below average SMS termination rates generate more than 75 SMS per subscriber per month. Macedonia does not fit the pattern with a measly 15 SMS per subscriber per month. Only three of the countries with above average SMS termination rates generate more than 75 SMS per subscriber per month.  Of those three, it is likely that most SMS is sent within network, thereby unaffected by the termination rate. France, where the termination rate is one € cent, generates the most SMS traffic per user by some margin.

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SMS Update 2011

Text messaging--or as it is popularly known "SMS" (Short Messaging Service)--continues to play an important role in the mobile ecosystem. Some five trillion text messages were sent by mobile users around the world in 2011. Growth has slowed as alternative means of communications such as WhatsApp, Twitter, etc. emerge. Nevertheless good old text messaging remains popular since it is widely available on virtually any handset, does not require a data plan and can be linked to popular applications such as Facebook or Twitter. Three countries--the United States, China and the Philippines--accounted for half of all SMS sent in 2011.

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Available data on messaging revenue suggest that the average revenue per SMS is a little over one US cent. That suggests that worldwide text message revenue was worth around US$60 billion in 2011.

The volume of SMS translates into an average of 2.5 sent per day in 2011. The average disguises tremendous differences in text messaging across nations. The average Filipino subscriber sends over 15 messages per day whereas in Kenya the equivalent figure is less than one.

Top 10 countries by SMS/month 2011

1 Philippines         470 

2 United States      286 

3 Canada              259 

4 Venezuela          257 

5 Malaysia             223 

6 Korea (Rep.)       216 

7 Turkey               212 

8 France               196 

9 Ireland               191 

10 UK                    155 

The number of text messages sent reflects the intensity of use. Volumes vary depending on several factors including costs, preference for other applications, and the user's language and character set.  Therefore apart from the intensity of use, it is also useful to understand what proportion of mobile users send text messages. A 21 country survey carried out in 2011 found that Indonesia ranked top with 96% of mobile owners sending SMS.  The average (median) value was 75%.

Percentage of mobile users who send text messages, 2011
Indonesia 96
Kenya 89
Lebanon 87
Poland 85
Mexico 82
Japan   81
China      80
Britain 79
Lithuania 79
France 77
Russia 75
Israel   73
Ukraine 72
Egypt       72
Spain       70
U.S.        67
Turkey 64
Jordan 63
Germany 56
India        49
Pakistan 44
MEDIAN 75
Pew Research Center. 2011. Global Digital Communication: Texting, Social Networking Popular Worldwide.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/12/20/global-digital-communication-texting-social-networking-popular-worldwide/

The cost of terminating SMS across networks impacts the retail price and the ability to offer unrestricted flat rate messaging packages. The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) has published data on wholesale costs of delivering a text message to another network in Europe. Ranges from 1.2 to 8.6 US cents.

SMS Termination Rates in Europe (US cents), January 2011
Turkey 1.2 ¢
Lithuania 1.9 ¢
Malta 2.2 ¢
Cyprus 2.3 ¢
UK 2.3 ¢
Poland 2.7 ¢
France 2.7 ¢
Romania 3.0 ¢
Iceland 3.2 ¢
Denmark 3.6 ¢
Greece 4.0 ¢
Ireland 4.2 ¢
Macedonia 4.3 ¢
Italy 4.4 ¢
Portugal 4.6 ¢
Slovak Rep. 4.9 ¢
Latvia 5.6 ¢
Norway 5.8 ¢
Belgium 6.6 ¢
Hungary 6.7 ¢
Estonia 6.8 ¢
Finland 7.3 ¢
Spain 8.2 ¢
Switzerland 8.6 ¢
MEDIAN 4.2 ¢
Adapted from: BEREC (Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications). SMS Benchmark snapshot (as of January 2011). BoR (11) 36

	SMS/SUB/MONTH Latest (2009-2011)
Philippines	470
United States	286
Canada	259
Venezuela	257
Malaysia	220
Korea (Rep.)	216
Turkey	212
Pakistan	198
France	196
Ireland	191
United Kingdom	155
Cyprus	149
Denmark	143
Argentina	137
Portugal	135
Lithuania	134
Sweden	122
Belgium	120
Oman	110
Malta	107
Uruguay	102
Singapore	98
Norway	97
Indonesia	93
Poland	93
Mauritius	88
Montenegro	88
Brazil	81
Australia	81
St. Kitts & Nevis	80
Italy	80
China	79
Serbia	79
Mexico	75
Bosnia	55
Switzerland	54
Luxembourg	51
Croatia	49
Czech Republic	48
Netherlands	46
Greece	44
Hong Kong	44
Austria	44
Finland	41
Slovenia	40
Iceland	40
El Salvador	35
India	34
Moldova	32
Dominica	32
Germany	32
Romania	27
United Arab Emirates	25
Colombia	24
Slovak Republic	21
Taiwan	19
Macedonia	19
South Africa	17
Bangladesh	15
Hungary	15
Grenada	14
Macao	13
Estonia	13
Morocco	12
Spain	12
Peru	11
St. Vincent	11
Kenya	9
St. Lucia	9
Chile	9
Jamaica	9
Togo	8
Bulgaria	5
Mali	5
Cape Verde	3

Source: ICTData.org

Updated 21 Jan. 2013

USA SMS Use

Pew Research Center conducted a demand side survey of Americans 18+ about their SMS use. They found of the 61% of Americans who text, on average they send or receive 42 per day, up from 30 in 2009. The average is inflated by heavy duty users given that the median is only 10.

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It is interesting to compare the survey results with actual data on SMS sent and received. The cellular industry association in the United States, CTIA, publishes statistics on the volume of text messages sent and received. They reported 2,304 billion in 2011. The figures reported by users are fairly close to the actual data.

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Top SMS 2009

The Philippines is still on top in the latest ranking of leading SMS countries. There have been some interesting changes since the last benchmark (see 2003 ranking). Text messaging has tripled in the Philippines with a whopping 609 SMS per subscriber per month in 2009. The USA enters the ranking at second with skyrocketing use of text messaging from just 8 per user per month in 2003 to 408 in 2009. This can be attributed to add-on packages for SMS where users get unlimited text messaging for a flat monthly fee. Singapore, Malta, Croatia and Norway have dropped out of the top ten replaced by Venezuela, Lithuania and Portugal. Another drop out is Japan where text messaging has been eclipsed by mobile e-mail. Care must be taken in interpreting these statistics since they may not reflect a relatively high intensity of non-voice use because users are more "tech-savvy".  In many instances, SMS is used because it is a cheaper alternative than a voice call. When the price of voice calls decline, the use of text messaging often goes down.

Top 10 countries by SMS per user per month, 2009

Note: Philippines and Indonesia based on largest mobile operators. USA refers to H2 2009. Ireland refers to Q4 2009. Korea refers to South Korea's KTF at February. SMS per user per month calculated as: Number of SMS for 2009 / Average mobile subscriptions in 2009 / 12. 
Suggested citation: "Top SMS 2009." www.ictDATA.org. IBSN: 000-1-05-2010. http://www.ictdata.org/2010/10/top-sms-2009.html. [Extracted dd-mm-yyyy].
Contact for additional information about this table or purchasing data set covering additional countries and years.

See 2011 update: http://www.ictdata.org/2012/06/sms-update-2011.html

Top SMS countries, 2003

The background for this chart stems from an April 2004 article stating that Germans led the world in SMS usage in 2003 (See "Germans are world SMS champions"). None of the statistics in the article were correct. For example, the article stated that Germans--who are not even ranked in the top ten by the number of SMS sent per subscriber per month--led the world by sending 200 million SMS a year. This is less than 1 SMS per subscriber per month and is clearly wrong. The German telecom regulator reported that Germans sent 20 billion SMS in 2003, or some 27 per subscriber per month. This only ranks Germany number 22, far behind the Philippines, where the average mobile subscriber sends some 200 text messages a month ranking that country tops in the world. This rectifies an earlier misunderstanding in the Asia Pacific Mobile Multimedia Outlook report where Singapore had been ranked ahead of the Philippines. This was picked up by one news article Tops in text: Singaporeans edge Pinoys. It turns out that the Singaporean data included both SMS sent and received. The data are now correct in the chart to show only sent text messages.
See 2009 update.