Chinese New Year could set text message record

STOCKHOLM – With text messages surging in popularity as a way to keep in touch, telecom experts predict that text messaging could set a record this weekend as Chinese New Year coincides with Valentine’s Day.In Sweden alone, 32 million texts were sent on one network during Western New Year 2009-10, which translates to nine SMSs per subscriber. This weekend could see up to 19 billion SMSs sent worldwide.A peak record was set during the broadcast of American Idol last year in the U.S. when 178 million SMSs were sent. SMS numbers worldwide are estimated to reach 2.3 trillion in 2010.This could strain...