Like every year, Telenor analysed its aggregate data, SMS and voice traffic in early January. Based on the results, between 00:00 a.m. on 31 December 2021 and 11:59 p.m. on 1 January 2022, Telenor had roughly the same number of voice calls than in the same period the year before, but Telenor customers completed 15 to 20% longer calls on average. During the two days surveyed, the first hour of the new year had a peak number of voice calls, 6 to 13 times more than the hours before and after. Traffic was at its peak in this hour considering the entire holiday period.
In the segment of calls initiated to other countries (international calls), more people called their friends and family in the evening hours of the last day of the year than on an average day. In the first hour of the new year, a peak number of calls were initiated to several countries including the United Kingdom, Poland and Romania – the multiple of calls than in the hours before and after.
Outperforming annual growth trends, data traffic at New Year exceeded the previous year’s level by 15%.
The role of SMS declined at New Year compared to the same period the year before. Telenor customers sent 10% less text messages in this period. Considering this year alone, however, SMS was still a popular medium for sending New Year’s greetings: texting traffic in the hour after midnight was 3- to 8-fold higher than in the hours before and after.