No NYE congestion despite text record: Telstra

In a statement issued today, Telstra said the 26,745,000 messages sent over that 48 hours topped the previous record of 23.2 million set during the same period last year.

"The busiest hour for text messaging on New Years' Eve was between 11pm and midnight when Telstra customers sent more than 1.7 million messages," the carrier said.

A spokesperson for Telstra said the carrier had received no reports of "major congestion problems" over New Years' Eve-New Years' Day, despite the fact text message volumes exceeded the carrier's forecast of 25 million.

Telstra's head of consumer marketing, Jenny Young, said last Thursday additional capacity had been allocated to areas in which Australians were due to gather to bring in 2006.

Texting volumes have risen steadily over the past five years after 9.5 million were sent during New Years' Eve-New Years' Day in 2001/2002.

The carrier reported last week that its customers sent 17.2 million text messages on Christmas Day, up on its prediction of 16.4 million and well over the previous year's mark of 14.6 million.