Telecommunications: Germans send far fewer text messages than they used to

telecommunications
Germans send far fewer text messages than they used to

Even if usage has decreased, SMS will probably not disappear completely for a long time. photo

© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa

Just a decade ago, SMS was an integral part of everyday communication. After that it went down, with the provisional low point last year.

SMS usage has plummeted. Last year, 5.8 billion “Short Message Service” messages were sent in Germany, 2 billion fewer than in 2021, the Federal Network Agency told dpa on request. On average, there were about five SMS per active SIM card per month. The decline is because people are using online services like Whatsapp, Threema or Signal more and more often.

A short gasp

SMS usage peaked in 2012, when 59.8 billion short messages were sent via German networks, around ten times the figure for the previous year. After that, usage dropped year by year. In 2021 there was a surprising increase of 0.8 billion to 7.8 billion. At the time, the network agency justified this with the consequences of corona restrictions and with two-factor authentication, in which online services send a short message to a user.

An O2 spokesman said that customers are increasingly communicating via internet platforms. The fact that their mobile phone tariffs contain ever larger data packages and the network has improved plays a role here. “Even if SMS no longer exudes the charm of years gone by, it will be with us for many years to come,” says Tanja Richter, Head of Technology at Vodafone Germany. “It is still indispensable, especially for dual authentication of access to online services or as a notification service for mailbox messages.”

At the same time, Vodafone pointed out that many service providers have now switched from SMS-based authentication to app solutions. A Telekom spokesman saw it similarly. “Banks use their own apps for this, for example,” said the spokesman for the group.

dpa

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