Whatsapp and other Over The Top (OTT) players had been in line of fire as telcos felt that it was taking away a large pie of their revenue with free messaging and also free calls. TRAI overruled the objection and said that telco's data earnings has increased exponentially and any additional charges would be detrimental for the growth of the industry.
Whatsapp has some great news for Indian users as it has decided to even waive off the meagre $1 dollar per year subscription fee owing to the lesser credit card concentration in India. Whatsapp will be free for lifetime.
Mr Arora in a talk at his alma mater ISB recalled his journey in Whatsapp and told how he prodded the founders to think about the business aspect of the things. Whatsapp hogged the limelight after being acquired by Facebook for a staggering $19 billion.
The TT perspective
Whatsapp is now not just an App but a revolution that introduced the masses to mobile internet ecosystem. Whatsapp can come up with umpteen number of ideas for revenue generation but at the same time they should be cautious not to destroy the customer centric approach which is the USP of Whatsapp.
