Message Is Clear-cut: Text Rules in New Year

People in Shanghai sent more than 574.6 million text messages of greetings on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Figures released yesterday by Shanghai Mobile and Shanghai Unicom, two major telcos in the city, showed a 40 percent year-on-year increase in the use of text messages on New Year's Eve.

The equivalent of about 32 text messages were sent by each cell phone user on Saturday in Shanghai.

Reuniting with family members, wishing luck for the year and sending greetings are key Spring Festival themes.

Nationwide, China Mobile and China Unicom estimated yesterday that Chinese people will send about 14 billion festival text messages during the seven-day Lunar New Year holiday.

Official statistics indicate that Chinese people sent 429.6 billion text messages through mobile phones last year, a daily average of up to 1.2 billion.

Meanwhile, the number of China's mobile phone users is expected to top 520 million in 2007, against 460 million in 2006, according to figures released by the Ministry of Information Industry yesterday.

Editor: Jing