Text message decline could affect AT&T and Verizon soon, analyst says

Tero Kuittinen, a senior analyst for MGI Research recently wrote a column for Forbes in which he noted that text messaging rates are declining in several countries around the globe. The Finnish wireless carrier Sonera, for example, noticed that the number of text messages sent on Christmas Eve 2011 dropped to 8.5 million messages from 10.9 million messages that were sent on the same night a year prior. The decline in text messaging was also recognized in Hong Kong, where it fell off as much as 14%. While sending a text message is still an incredibly popular comunication method, Kuittinen argues that the downward trend could continue to the U.S. and affect AT&T and Verizon later this year or next. “The ambitious new messaging plans and more organic Facebook/Twitter support of both Apple and Google could be the big threat for operator earnings growth in a year or two,” Kuittinen said. “As much as 20% of carrier earnings are derived from text-messaging.”

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