Experts are warning mobile phone networks in the UK may not be able to cope with the large amount of traffic generated by the World Cup.

Telecommunications specialist Actix said that with 80 per cent of the UK population owning a mobile and traffic expected to reach new peaks, it was very likely users would experience frustration as football fever peaked.

Texting is already reaching extremely high levels and this could have a detrimental effect on the levels of service this month.

More than 24 billion text messages were sent worldwide last month, compared to four billion in January, according to research by the GSM Association. In April, about 1.3 billion text messages were sent in the UK.

As there is no way for the mobile network operators to prioritise the delivery of messages and voice calls, any user could be affected, whether a high-paying business user, pre-paid customer or someone making an emergency call.

Text message services offered by telecommunications companies, on-line search engines and charities, giving World Cup scores and breaking news on fans' mobiles, compound the problems.

They add a further burden to the overstretched networks.

Actix's chief executive Rob Dobson said: "Like mobile communications, the World Cup unites millions of people across many nations. However, an event like the World Cup heightens mobile usage and serves to exacerbate the problems on mobile networks.

"With every England match, there is the chance the combination of text and voice calls in some areas will cause network overload."

The problem is not restricted to the UK. In the Philippines, when free texting was introduced for a limited time, it caused a huge spike in mobile traffic, leading to network busy signals and connectivity problems.

To alleviate the problems, growing numbers of operators are using sophisticated software that analyses network performance data to maximise its capacity.

www.actix.com
www.gsmworld.com