DÜSSELDORF (dpa-AFX) - It was all about New Year's greetings via video or photo: Mobile phone users in Germany consumed significantly more data on New Year's Eve than a year earlier. In the first hour of 2023, the Vodafone network transmitted 280,000 gigabytes and thus approximately 40 percent more than in the same period last year, the network operator announced on Wednesday in Düsseldorf. At competitor Telefónica Deutschland with its O2 brand, it even went up by around 50 percent to 570,000 gigabytes. Deutsche Telekom reported an increase of 55 percent.

In the same period last year, New Year's Eve data consumption had increased more slowly: by 14 percent at Vodafone and by 35 percent at O2. The reason: Many people had stayed at home due to Corona restrictions, where they were connected to the Internet via wifi.

Telefónica Germany CEO Markus Haas spoke of a "data fireworks display" on New Year's Eve. At Vodafone, there was talk of an "extraordinary workload." "Many of us were out celebrating again at the start of the new year," said Tanja Richter, head of technology at Vodafone Germany. "In the process, not only photos but also high-resolution videos were increasingly shared on social media."

Data consumption in mobile communications has long been picking up strongly due to the use of data-intensive applications and changing communication habits, with companies reporting all-time highs year after year./wdw/DP/zb