Millions of phone greetings

Millions of Thais expressed New Year's greetings with their mobile devices during the peak hours of December 31, according to cellphone companies Advanced Info Service (AIS) and Total Access Communication (DTAC).

On AIS from 11pm to midnight on December 31, about 3.3 million subscribers sent New Year's greetings on Facebook, 2.5 million on the Line messenger and about 1 million via Whatsapp.

Over at DTAC, in just 15 minutes from 10 to 10.15pm, 1.3 million subscribers concurrently used mobile devices to send their best wishes to Facebook, Line and Whatsapp.

The National Office of Buddhism said 30 million people chanted to mark the beginning of 2013 at 30,000 temples nationwide, while around 50,000 worshippers marked the New Year at Thai temples overseas.

Approximately 3,000 to 5,000 worshippers went to each of the main provincial temples hosting New Year's services. District-level temples had 2,000 to 3,000 attendees each, 1,000 to 2,000 at tambon-level temples and 1,000 to 1,500 at each village-level temple.

More than 100,000 people chanted at Bangkok's Golden Mount, Wat Sraket - 80 per cent of them youngsters and working-age people, the office said.