Voice communication and SMS are gaining popularity in Russia
In 2026, the demand for traditional means of communication – voice calls and SMS is growing in Russia
In 2026, the demand for traditional means of communication – voice calls and SMS – is growing in Russia. In the first nine months of the year, voice traffic on the network increased by 27% compared to the same period last year, and the number of outgoing SMS – by 84%.
VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology is growing. The volume of voice traffic through it for January-September 2026 increased by 72% year-on-year. The use of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) is also increasing. In nine months, the figure rose by 30%. VoLTE allows you to simultaneously talk and use mobile Internet on a 4G network, the press service of MegaFon reported.
The trend is also evident in the SMS segment. In January-August, the average monthly number of users of the service increased by almost a quarter compared to last year. At the same time, the average load per user increased. Now it is about 18 outgoing messages per month against 12 a year earlier.
Technical Director of the operator Alexei Titov noted that the growth of voice traffic creates an additional burden on the infrastructure, so engineers continue to upgrade the network and increase its capacity.
