The consumer preference for resorting to SMS and MMS mode of communication continues to grow with the new findings from VeriSign’s Messaging and Mobile Media Division reaffirming this trend.

According to VeriSign, Q1 2009 witnessed delivery of 84 million messages across the globe. Valentine’s Day alone witnessed exchange of 1.06 billion messages. The quarter witnessed 18.5 % growth in traffic on a quarterly basis and 96 % on a y-o-y basis.

Asia-Pacific region reported the highest growth at 30 % when compared on a quarterly basis.  In South Asia the international messaging traffic witnessed tenfold increase. VeriSign attributed this to the large migrant population in the region.

While the findings are limited to cover only those operators served by VeriSign’s Messaging and Mobile Media Division, VeriSign claims that this division supports around 700 carriers in over 200 countries to reach 3 billion subscribers.

For Q1, VeriSign reported 82.3 Billion P2P and over 1.6 Billion A2P messages.

MMS and PictureMail registered growth of 130 % and 84 % respectively on a quarterly basis. Q1 2009 saw 1.1 billion MMS delivered.

Enterprises too are waking up to the potential of the medium to reach out to consumers as the findings reveal that A2P (application to peer) traffic increased by 885 on a yearly basis.