Luxembourg Mobile Networks See Increased Data Usage over New Year's Eve

Luxembourg mobile network operators POST and Tango both witnessed an increase in data usage among their customers on New Year's Eve.

From 31 December 2020 to 1 January 2021, the total number of text messages sent over the POST Luxembourg network was 832,000, representing a decrease of 25% compared to the previous year. An increasing number of customers opted instead to use instant messaging and social networks to send their greetings to family and friends, causing a sharp increase in mobile internet traffic: 136 terabytes of data were exchanged during these two days across all POST networks combined (2G, 3G, 4G and 5G); this represents an increase of 42% over one year. This development confirms the general trend observed in recent years.

Similarly, Tango saw a 27% increase in data usage over New Year's Eve compared to last year; this figure was up 24% in 2020 compared to 2019 and up 8% in 2019 compared to 2018. The mobile network operator attributed this year's increase to the unusual situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic, at a time when families and friends could not get together, leading to a large number of video calls and instant messaging. Tango noted another specific feature of this year: only 17% of its customers' data consumption was roaming (excluding Luxembourg), compared to 26% last year.