According to one company, global SMS traffic over the 2007/2008 New Year increased by 30% compared to a year ago.

Messaging company Acision works with more than 300 network operators and service providers worldwide. It says phone users around the world sent a staggering 43 billion text messages to wish their loves ones a happy New Year, of which more then 23 billion were processed through Acision’s systems.

Growth was strong in both mature and emerging markets – in Portugal, SMS traffic almost tripled across the period compared to last year and Dutch operator KPN saw its messaging traffic double on New Year’s Eve. But the most astounding growth figures came from developing markets, where India’s 220 million mobile subscribers sent more than 1 billion text messages – a 300% increase to their day-to-day traffic levels. The Philippines retained its title as the text messaging capital of the world, sending 1.39 billion text messages from a subscriber base of just 50 million.