Analysis
Over the whole festive period, between 24 December and 1 January, mobile internet traffic increased by an average of 35% year-on-year on Yettel’s network. On the weekdays leading up to the Christmas weekend, when people were preparing for the holidays, there was an even higher, 37% increase in network traffic.
Preferred forms of communication
Convenient and reliable SMS services emerged almost at the same time as mobile services, and they were the first additional service type alongside voice calls. While SMS has been replaced by a number of online solutions and applications by now, it still stands out with its simplicity and reliability. This could be the reason for its continued popularity, with 13% more SMS messages sent by Yettel customers this New Year than the year before. Similarly, the importance of voice calls did not decline. Compared to the last day of the year, voice traffic increased 5 times on New Year’s Day, after midnight, and the longest calls on average throughout the festive period were made in the hours after midnight – presumably by Yettel customers wishing their loved ones a Happy New Year.
Roaming and international calls during the holidays
In the festive period, Yettel’s customers generated the highest international traffic to and from Austria, Germany and Romania, including calls initiated from abroad, as well as calls made to and received abroad. Interestingly, these countries experienced a spike in voice traffic before Christmas, on 23 December and 30 December compared to the surrounding days. In terms of received roaming calls (i.e. calls by customers staying abroad with a domestic subscription), the UK showed the highest traffic. 2022 demonstrated a reversed trend compared to 2021. More people with a Yettel subscription made international calls from Hungary than received calls abroad.
Yettel launched a comprehensive network modernisation project in 2022. The process, requiring an investment of tens of billions of HUF, will promote the adoption of 5G and double or triple the capacity of 4G technology providing a nationwide coverage of 99% in terms of Hungary’s population, serving the growing needs of customers’ mobile and home internet use in the long run.