MUMBAI: US wireless carrier Cingular Wireless has broken its own record for wireless text messaging during the fifth season of American Idol on Fox.

Cingular recorded more than 64.5 million text messages throughout the show's season, breaking last year's record of 41.5 million text messages.

Text messages include votes, trivia, sweepstakes, entries, TXT chats, fan club and vote number reminder. Cingular introduced a lot of American Idol themed content this season, but its newest offering, Live Idol Tones, stole the show. Cingular claims to have broken new ground in the music industry with the tones letting Cingular customers purchase and download ringtones and answer tones of select American Idol performances just 24 hours after they were performed live on the show.

Typically, traditional recorded music requires months to go from recording to distribution. Last week, Cingular's Live Idol Tones category of ringtones was one of the top sellers.

Cingular Wireless VP marketing John Burbank says, "We are pleased to have played a role in what was another great season of American Idol. We knocked Idol-related text messaging out of the ballpark and added another home run with our Live Idol Tones which capitalised on the passion American Idol fans have for their favourite contestants."

Cingular customers also had exclusive wireless access to American Idol throughout the season with services including TXT chats with Idol contestants and convenient vote number reminders listing all of the American Idol contestants who performed that week. In addition, Cingular customers also connected to the show through the Idol Wireless Fan Club which let them keep up with the latest Idol news, play Idol Trivia on their wireless devices or download "American Idol" -related ringtones such as the show's theme song or songs from former Idol winners and contestants.