By IANS
Karachi : Pakistan’s 74.58 million mobile phone users sent out almost one billion SMSs from New Year’s Eve to the next day but there are no reliable estimates as to how much the cellular providers earned during this period.
“Only on two days (Monday and Tuesday), approximately 93 million SMSs and 8.5 million calls were made,” Daily Times reported Thursday, quoting industry sources.
“According to the industry analysts mobile phone service providers have earned millions of rupees on Dec 27 (after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto), on New Year’s eve and on New Year’s day,” the newspaper said.
On Monday evening, millions of people started sending text messages and exchanging greetings with their friends and relatives, “which also badly disturbed the communication network due to heavy load on the system”, it added.
According to a mobile phone company official, on Dec 27 evening, after news of Bhutto’s assassination came in, “approximately 100 percent lines were in use due to heavy increase in the traffic of mobile phone calls and SMS. On the occasion of New Year, it is estimated that the number of calls and SMS were almost doubled”.
On New Year’s Eve, sellers of prepaid mobile phone cards charged 10 percent extra for each card due to the higher demand, as the market had remained closed for four straight days after Bhutto’s assassination.
“Subscribers were bound to purchase the prepaid cards on the sellers’ desired amount as everyone wanted to greet their family members, relatives and friends on the occasion of New Year,” Daily Times said.
“I made dozens of calls and sent a lot of SMS to the members of my family and friends in different parts of the country and abroad,” senior journalist Razi Syed was quoted as saying.