Last year, Telstra had predicted a record number of SMS messages to be circulated on its network for New Years, and this year as well, the telecom giant has shared a similar forecast, which has essentially come through Telstra's Executive Director of the Consumer division, Jenny Young.

Ms. Young has shared that for the current year, the company "expects more than 66 million SMS to be sent across Telstra's network on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, two million more than last year's record". The new figure, as confirmed, is also about 52 million more than the number record for the same period 5 years back.

Also, Telstra has estimated that there would be about 31 million voice calls made, as opposed to 19.5 calls for last year, over 25,500 voice calls, a substantial increase from last year's figure of
19,000 and over 850,000 MMS messages would be sent around.

"In between champagne bottles popping and fireworks cracking, our customers will keep their fingers busy over the New Year's period using their phones to keep in contact with loved ones across the country and around the world", said Ms. Young, while also pointing out that some customers might experience delay in services as the network would be clogged.

11 PM to Midnight on New Year's Eve, the company said, would be the busiest hour for sending texts.