Connecting Europe over the festive season

How Vodafone helped customers celebrate and share the festive season through data and calls

Picture this: the scent of mulled wine drifting through Germany’s bustling winter markets, where friends gather beneath the fairy lights. 

In Ireland, a candle glows in the window on Christmas Eve, a timeless gesture of welcome and warmth.

Across the UK, families tune in for the traditional Royal Broadcast on Christmas Day, a moment of reflection amid the festivities.

Then, as the year draws to a close in Türkiye, kitchens hum with activity, preparing lavish feasts for New Year’s Eve.  

What all these celebrations share is a desire to come together. To pause, reconnect, and share moments that matter.

And we were there through every call, message and captured moment, making sure that even if you couldn’t be in the same place, every clink of a glass, chat with the relatives and Santa hat selfies could still be shared with the people who matter most.

Connected at Christmas

Christmas is a time to gather with the people who matter most. But when distance gets in the way, a call is the next best thing.

In the UK, Christmas 2025 took on a peaceful rhythm. On the VodafoneThree network*, traditional voice calls from Three customers peaked between 11am – 12pm*, before tapering off as families settled into a relaxed, cosy afternoon together.

Ireland told a similar story. Christmas Day saw over 3.4 million traditional voice calls connecting living rooms and kitchens across the country. At 12 noon, the busiest hour, 363,185 calls rang out – proof that nothing beats hearing a loved one’s voice remains one of the most meaningful parts of the season. 

And those connections stretched far beyond Ireland’s borders: 43% of all international calls made that day were to the UK, showing the deep ties and close family relationships that continue to bridge the two countries.

But connectivity today stretches far beyond just calls. Once the morning catch‑ups were done, families turned to the other rituals that now define a modern festive day - the streaming marathons, shared gaming sessions, and digital moments that keep everyone entertained under one roof.

In the UK, Christmas Day brought a wave of such digital activity. While overall data usage saw a slight dip, likely due to families gathering under one roof, certain areas experienced impressive surges.

Peaks were seen across gaming and web-based messaging apps like WhatsApp and Snapchat, as people shared festive messages throughout the day. Terrestrial TV app usage also spiked, with families gathering to watch Christmas favourites together - including a clear uplift at 3pm as people tuned into the King’s Speech.

For many, gaming took centre stage during the day’s digital celebrations, as kids young and old unwrapped new consoles and games. Nintendo devices soared more than 400% above the usual daily average, while PlayStation activity doubled. This shift highlights how, even as some habits change, the festive season remains a time for digital experiences.

Ringing in the new year

New Year’s Eve brought a surge of celebration across our markets and nowhere was this more visible than in Germany. Between 8pm and 3am, an extraordinary 4.5 million gigabytes of data travelled across Vodafone’s network, setting a new record for the country.

To put that into perspective, over seven hours, customers used enough data for you to stream movies on Netflix in HD for 200 years, or to ask ChatGPT questions continuously for 70,000 years. 
While data usage increasing year on year isn’t unusual, this year marked a mighty 50% increase compared to last year. In 2020/2021, the total amount of data was only one million gigabytes, meaning that usage has more than quadrupled in only a few years.

And it wasn’t only data that connected our German customers. In the first hour of 2026, more than 7.5 million mobile calls were placed as people reached out to friends and family near and far.

Meanwhile Türkiye saw its own wave of digital celebration, with data usage rising to over 13.28 million gigabytes as people shared photos, videos and New Year wishes across apps and social feeds. On 1st January, data climbed again to roughly 13.38 million gigabytes, as people relaxed at home, scrolling through memories and sending “Mutlu Yıllar” messages.

Connectivity you can count on

*All UK data referenced in this article is from Three UK customers using the VodafoneThree network.