70 lakh SMSes today

The people of Gujarat may not like to tie friendship bands or present gifts on Friendship Day, but they do tend to send a large number of text messages to their friends. With there being more than 2.5 crore mobile phones in the state, more than 70 lakh text messages will be exchanged on this day.

On an average, 60 lakh messages are sent per day in Gujarat. On Friendship Day, this figure is expected to rise by around 20 per cent. This is, however, less than the number of text messages sent on auspicious days like Diwali, New Year and Gujarati New Year, when the number rises more than 200 per cent.

“We do not expect many text messages to be sent this Sunday. Compared to the daily average, the number may rise by 15 to 20 per cent on Friendship Day,” an official of a leading telecom firm said.

The state-owned BSNL has readied itself to handle the flow of SMS traffic today. “If everyone sends messages at the same time, for instance, at midnight on Saturday to wish each other, there are chances of the messages being delivered late,” said Satya Pal, CGM (Gujarat circle), BSNL.

Tata Teleservices has launched special value-added services for this day, expecting a good rise in SMS transactions. “We are offering special caller tunes on certain friendship songs,” said Naveen Bhasin, COO of Tata Teleservices.