BONN (dpa-AFX) - While Germans are sending fewer and fewer text messages, the use of online services such as Whatsapp, Threema and Signal is growing strongly in Germany. As the Federal Network Agency announced in response to a dpa inquiry, around 891 billion instant messages were sent over the internet in Germany last year, almost eleven percent more than in 2022. These are text messages, photos, videos, documents and emojis that are sent via online services. For every consumer who regularly uses such services, an average of 379 instant messages were sent per month.

By contrast, interest in text messages fell, with 5.3 billion being sent in Germany in 2023, 0.5 billion fewer than in 2022, compared to 7.9 billion in 2019. The "Short Messaging Service" (SMS) peaked in 2012, when 59.8 billion text messages were sent in Germany. Over the years, however, more and more Germans had a smartphone and online services gradually overtook the good old SMS. This trend is now continuing./wdw/DP/he