Telstra is gearing up for its busiest day of the year, with its customers expected to send more than 16 million text messages and make more than 7.2 million mobile calls on Christmas Day. Telstra anticipates text message volumes will double that of a normal day.

More than 7.5 million local calls, nearly three million STD calls and more than half a million international calls are also expected to be made. Around 170,000 picture messages will also be sent.

“More than 1000 Telstra staff will be working around the clock this Christmas to keep our networks running smoothly and ensure family and friends across the globe can keep in touch,” Telstra’s Head of Consumer Marketing, Ms Jenny Young said.

Ms Young said that for the first time this Christmas, Telstra customers would also be using new video call features to see and speak to friends and family who can’t celebrate the festive season in person*.

“Video calls are the next best thing to actually being with loved ones this Christmas,” Ms Young said. “This exciting new feature is set to grow in popularity as Telstra rolls out Australia’s only national 3G network to all parts of Australia.”

Ms Young recommended that Telstra customers calling overseas plan ahead to avoid call congestion.

“We have taken steps to give customers the best chance of getting their international calls through on the first try, but encourage customers to avoid peak calling times, especially for popular overseas destinations such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, United States, Canada and Hong Kong.”