Speaking Sensis

Sensis’ China team this week returned to work after the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) holiday and we discovered some amazing statistics about the sheer size of mobile use in what is the world’s most populous nation.

As it is China that we are talking about, with a population of more than 1.3 billion, the numbers are always big. And while I have become accustomed to all of the millions and billions, the mobile use statistics from the week long holiday this year (February 14 to February 28) were just astounding. And here they are:

• a total of 23 billion SMS messages were sent – an average of 30.8 wireless messages sent per person based on the 747 million mobile phone users in China and a 10 per cent increase on the same period last year;
• 13 billion SMS messages were sent on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day alone; and
• a total of 1.33 billion MMS were sent during the seven-day holiday, with a 40 per cent increase on the same period last year – wow!

For those of you who have never experienced it, Spring Festival in China is a bit like Christmas in Australia, but, of course, with a lot more people and instead of cricket we have fireworks – lots of fireworks! So much so that 7480 fires were said to be caused by fireworks during the festival.

Only a comparatively small number of people remain in Beijing during the festival as many of the capital’s residents travel to their home towns to spend time with family. As such Beijing seems to become empty with shops closed and streets free of traffic. While there is still activity, it was only the endless fireworks that reminded me that the city was still inhabited. It is an amazing transition to the typical hustle and bustle of this massive city.

Before I sign off, I have one more impressive statistic to help you put into perspective the sheer size of this country in terms of population and geography. The movement of people around China has been incredible with around 210 million passengers estimated to be travelling during a 40-day festival rush period that begins on January 30. This is said to be the largest migration of people in the world.

If you have any interesting digital China observations, feel free to add them here.