French SMS traffic slumps in Q3

Posted By TelecomTV One , 12 November 2012 | 2 Comments | 0 people rated this an average of 3/5

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Tags: france sms texting messaging tariffs telcos regulator Arcep

Bundling and OTT apps are blamed for a fall in French SMS traffic in the third quarter. By Paul Rasmussen

Text messaging in France could be on the slide with 1.69 billion fewer SMS messages being sent in the third quarter compared to Q2, according to a report from the telecoms regulator Arcep. It said that while the 43bn text messages sent in the quarter is higher than the same period a year ago, the Q3 slump is likely to have been caused by operators aggressively marketing unlimited voice bundles.

Free Mobile pioneered low-cost unlimited voice bundles in France earlier this year, and they have since been mimicked by Bouygues Telecom, France Telecom and SFR. According to La Tribune, this has damaged operator service revenues and has pushed customers away from SMS.

FierceWirelessEurope: French SMS traffic slumps in Q3, as bundling and OTT apps are blamed; TelecomTV content partner.

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(1) 12 November 2012 15:39:00 by Bill Best Why does bundling and aggressive SMS pricing reduce TXT traffic? Yes, I see why it reduces SMS revenues but elsewhere in other markets where bundling has occurred SMS traffic increases even if revenues do fall.Twitter also drives a lot more traffic - if not revenue - so these figures seem very strange to me.
(2) 12 November 2012 21:26:23 by TelecomTV One I had exactly the same thought Bill: could it be that the unlimited calling part of the bundle leads people to call who might otherwise have sent a text for economy reasons. If both are free, the quick call wins...

(1) 12 November 2012 15:39:00 by Bill Best

Why does bundling and aggressive SMS pricing reduce TXT traffic? Yes, I see why it reduces SMS revenues but elsewhere in other markets where bundling has occurred SMS traffic increases even if revenues do fall.Twitter also drives a lot more traffic - if not revenue - so these figures seem very strange to me.

(2) 12 November 2012 21:26:23 by TelecomTV One

I had exactly the same thought Bill: could it be that the unlimited calling part of the bundle leads people to call who might otherwise have sent a text for economy reasons. If both are free, the quick call wins...

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French SMS traffic slumps in Q3

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