Marc
22 July 2026 · 6 min read
Arcep, France's telecom regulator, published on 9 July 2026 its quarterly observatory of the electronic communications markets for the first quarter of 2026. Beyond the headline figures already covered in the press (slight revenue dip, fibre at 84% of internet subscriptions, 5G at 42% of SIM cards), one indicator has gone almost unnoticed and deserves a closer look: the number of SMS sent in roaming by French subscribers dropped by 38.5% in a single year. A historic shift that confirms the decline of SMS in favour of over-the-top messaging apps — even when travelling abroad.
The figure: 134 million roaming SMS, year on year
According to the Q1 2026 Observatory, customers of French operators sent 134 million SMS in roaming abroad between January and March 2026. That's 38.5% less than in Q1 2025. For comparison, over the same period, voice roaming dropped by 10.2% (829 million minutes) while data roaming grew by 14.4% (about 99,155 terabytes). The trend isn't new, but its magnitude in Q1 2026 makes it remarkable.
| Outgoing roaming indicator (French users abroad) | Q1 2026 | Year-on-year change |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | 829 million minutes | -10.2% |
| SMS | 134 million units | -38.5% |
| Data | 99,155 terabytes | +14.4% |
| Total roaming revenue | €96 million (excl. VAT) | -8.2% |
Source: Arcep — Q1 2026 Market Observatory, published 9 July 2026.
Why such a collapse of SMS in roaming?
Several effects are stacking up, and Arcep identifies them clearly in its commentary.
First, European roaming has been included in domestic plans since 2017 ("Roam Like At Home"). Sending an SMS from Spain, Italy or Greece therefore costs no more than a domestic SMS — which has largely banalised the usage… yet has not stopped its decline. Proof that free of charge is no longer enough to keep SMS alive: the value of usage has shifted elsewhere.
Second, mobile data coverage abroad has dramatically improved. French plans now typically include 25 to 35 GB usable across Europe (or more with Bouygues Telecom and Orange), often with a separate but generous "travel" envelope. On a 4G or 5G-connected smartphone, the favourite messaging app (WhatsApp, iMessage, Messenger, Signal, Telegram) takes over from native SMS — without friction and with much richer features (voice notes, photos, group chats, presence indicators).
Finally, the rise of travel eSIMs and the arrival of rock-bottom "data only" roaming plans — which we discussed in our article on eSIM in France in 2026 — keeps users connected anywhere without depending on the home operator's voice/SMS roaming. For the traveller, SMS has become a fallback channel rather than a daily one.
Photo: Unsplash — airport waiting time has become a "messaging" moment, not an "SMS" one.
SMS in France is also declining, but more slowly
This trend isn't isolated: it extends a movement observed on the domestic market. As we analysed in our previous piece on the decline of SMS in France according to Arcep, the number of SMS sent per subscriber in metropolitan France is also dropping by several per cent each quarter, and the share of interpersonal messages in total SMS traffic has shrunk significantly in favour of commercial, transactional and alert SMS.
In roaming, the drop is sharper for two reasons:
- SMS was never a high-volume use case abroad: it's mostly used to announce one's arrival, send a confirmation code, or keep in touch when data coverage is poor.
- IP messengers now work everywhere with Wi-Fi or data, including in countries where 4G coverage is now widespread (Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt — favourite French destinations).
In short: SMS in roaming is no longer a daily channel, but a technical channel — which is also visible in the composition of the remaining SMS traffic, dominated by OTPs, bank alerts, flight confirmations, and delivery notifications.
What it changes for the ecosystem
For a service like Texto SMS Gratuit, which relies on the SMS channel to let anyone send a free text message to a French mobile, this movement has a paradoxical consequence: one-off sending from a browser remains relevant, because it doesn't depend on a plan, a SIM card, or a mobile operator. When travelling, with no local mobile network, behind a hotel's fiddly firewall, or simply wanting to let a relative in France know something without giving out your number — using a free online SMS form remains a simple solution that doesn't touch your smartphone's roaming allowance.
This is also what our article on sending SMS for free online highlighted: the SMS channel has changed nature, but it remains irreplaceable for some use cases — alerts, OTPs, critical notifications, communication with people who don't use IP messengers (elderly relatives, some digitally excluded groups, professional contacts). SMS is turning into a trusted utility channel, where it used to be a mass social channel in the 2000s.
Arcep made this point in its Telconomics 2026 annual report: the value of SMS lies not in its volume but in its reach — that is, its ability to reach 100% of mobile customers, including seniors, feature phone users, and people in poorly served data areas.
Photo: Unsplash — for many users, SMS is still the most familiar and reliable channel.
A few nuances to keep in mind
The picture isn't entirely linear, and Arcep notes several caveats:
- The roaming SMS drop is partly mechanical: as voice itinerance falls in favour of Wi-Fi calling, some operators no longer bill SMS sent via their own app — so they don't appear in the statistics.
- Public alert and security SMS (FR-Alert, which we recently explained) escape this trend: their volume remains stable, even growing, with the generalisation of cell-broadcast.
- RCS ("Rich Communication Services") — the SMS successor pushed by Google and Apple, which we covered in several recent articles — could eventually further shrink SMS's share by offering an interoperable enriched messaging channel directly built into the native SMS client.
Key takeaways
- Roaming SMS dropped by 38.5% in Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025, to 134 million units, according to the Arcep Observatory of 9 July 2026.
- At the same time, data roaming grew by 14.4% and voice roaming fell by 10.2% — IP messaging is gradually replacing SMS, even abroad.
- SMS remains a utility and trusted channel: alerts, OTPs, communication with audiences not equipped with IP apps. Its volume is dropping, but its strategic value isn't going away.
- For a one-off send, without a plan or SIM, a free online SMS service still makes full sense — precisely because it doesn't depend on roaming.
To go further, you can read the Arcep Q1 2026 Market Observatory, revisit our dossier on the decline of SMS in France or drop us a line to share how you use SMS while travelling.
