SMS in economy pack from Telia - Big users of SMS can now send messages for only SEK 0.20 each

People who send many SMS messages can now buy them in an economy pack from Telia. For SEK 100 they can send 500 SMS messages per month from their mobile phone. SMS continues to be one of the most common ways of using a mobile phone, regardless of the age group. More than 75 percent of mobile users in Sweden send SMS messages from their mobile handset.

According to a poll recently conducted by the SIFO research company in Sweden, almost everyone age 15 to 29 – 98 percent – uses a mobile phone to send SMS messages. However, use of the SMS service is on a large scale among all Swedes. Approximately 70 percent of Swedes age 50-64 send SMS messages and one-third of the people in Sweden who have reached a retirement age use mobile phones to send SMS messages. In the age group 30 to 49, almost 90 percent use SMS. “SMS is an efficient, fast and flexible way of communicating,” says Indra Åsander, head of the Consumer Segment at TeliaSonera Sweden. “Many of our customers send several SMS messages a day and we have now developed an economy pack offer that reduces the cost of a message to only SEK 0.20.” Everyone who sends more than three or four SMS messages a day will save money by buying the new SMS package deal. For SEK 100 they can send 500 SMS messages from their mobile phone to the networks of all mobile operators in Sweden within 30 days, which corresponds to a price of only SEK 0.20 per message. With the economy pack, they will also know exactly what their SMS messages cost. The SMS economy pack can be ordered by people who have a private mobile subscription with Telia or a registered Telia Refill prepaid card. About the survey: SIFO was commissioned by Telia to survey 3,000 people in Sweden, age 15 or older, to poll them about mobile telephony. The respondents were randomly selected and represent all of Sweden. The survey period was February 21 through March 13, 2005.