Whatsapp Voice calling goes live, still needs invite for activation

Whatsapp is by far the most popular instant messaging app available in the market. With over 700 million active users, it has given a substantial hit to the SMS revenues of mobile operators. Now it has launched the much-awaited voice calling feature through its newest update, which enables the ability to make VoIP calls using cellular data or WiFi connection at no added cost.

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There have been other apps like Viber and Skype that have been offering voice calling since a long time but did not pose so much of a threat to telecom operators due to lack of mass scale uptake. Telecom major Bharti Airtel had announced that it will be launching dedicated VoIP data pack in addition to its existing data packs to make up for the loss of revenue through voice. But had to retract the differential charging proposal due to large scale protest on social media on grounds of net neutrality.

Whatsapp had been testing this feature for some time now with a closed group of users that had VoIP calling activated. The invite window where one user having the feature could invite another user was limited to a few hours the last time it was rolled out in a phased manner. This time around it appears to be a widespread rollout though it is still dependant on invitation. Whatsapp was bought over by Facebook which has its own messaging platform called ‘messenger’ which also offers VoIP calling, but Facebook has shown no intention of merging the two platforms. Also, whatsapp has a strong No-Ad policy and has a low annual fee equivalent to 1$ but till now it has only been giving extensions in validity for free to Indian subscribers without any deactivations.