Record-high SMS and MMS traffic on New Year's Eve.

(From Hugin)

(Oslo, 1 January 2006) More than 25 million text messages (SMS) and close to 1 million picture messages (MMS) passed through Telenor's mobile network on New Year's Eve. These are record figures, both for text and picture messages.

"We did expect some records to be broken, and we are pleased to register that although some people may have experienced slight delays sending and receiving messages, the mobile network has managed the traffic this year too," said Jon Erik Haug, Head of Mobile in Telenor's Norwegian operation. On New Year's Eve last year, which was when the previous record was set, festive Norwegians sent more than 19 million text messages and almost 500,000 picture messages. Before New Year's Eve 2004, Telenor installed an extra SMS central, enabling Telenor to handle twice the amount traffic without any delays. It is impossible to completely safeguard against any delays, however, as the number of messages virtually explodes during a very short period. "When the number of messages going through the network exceeds 1,000 per second we are reaching critical volumes, and delays may occur. But at no time will messages get lost, and as long as they have ...