Short Messaging Service (SMS) is one of the significant features of cellular mobile services and a 16 percent increase in SMS traffic was witnessed during July-December, 2010. SMS is a vital source of revenue for cellular companies and all of them generated approximately 100 billion SMSs during the stated period, as compared to 86 billion during the two preceding quarters. This huge rise in SMS traffic owes largely to the attractive and wide range of bundle packages being offered by all operators.
Daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly and even unlimited packages are being offered at very low rates to capture the potential this service possesses. However, the civil society seems concerned over these packages as the youth is increasingly seen caught in amorous advances, mainly due to cheap night packages offered by various telecom operators in a bid to expand their customer base. The amazing part of the story is that almost all mobile operators offer arguably cheapest call charges with almost entirely free text messages, charging as low as 25 paisas.