Facebook which paid $19 billion to buy the messaging app, certainly wants to make money by charging a fee to its product but consumers are not ready so the plan has been shelved, at least for now.
“For many years, we’ve asked some people to pay a fee for using WhatsApp after their first year,” WhatsApp said in a post on its official blog. “As we’ve grown, we’ve found that this approach hasn’t worked well.
WhatsApp which peaked one over a billion users by last January has not dropped the idea altogether although MIC Tanzania Limited which trades locally as Tigo has gone ahead and given its clients free WhatsApp services.
“We at Tigo feel that we owe our subscribers a lot because of their royalty to our brand,” the company’s General Manager, Diego Gutierrez said during the launch of the new service last week.
Gutierrez said with over 10 million subscribers, Tigo has become the first mobile phone services company in the country to offer the social media service for free
The GM noted that the offer of the messaging app for social media service demonstrates yet again Tigo Tanzania’s commitment to promote digital lifestyle transformation and its leadership in delivering cutting-edge technology and innovations in its market.
The services will be available to Tigo customers who subscribe to the company’s weekly and monthly internet bundles.
Tanzania is said to have an estimated eight million WhatsApp users and Tigo move will only grow the family much larger in East Africa’s largest country by land mass. The application will enable users to exchange media, texts, video clips and voice calls for free.
“From now onwards, all Tigo customers buying any of our weekly or monthly packages will be eligible to enjoy free WhatsApp. This of course, is for customers with data enabled devices or smart phones,” said Taji Liundi who was master of ceremonies at the launching party of the service.
Urging local consumers to seize Tigo’s opportunity, Liundi said the company has shown commitment in promoting digital lifestyle transformation and leadership in delivering cutting-edge technology and innovation.
“This is yet another move to improve communication among its subscribers which makes life easier and better,” Liundi noted at the launch party attended by dozens of clients, senior company officials and regulatory representatives.
Many of the subscribers have since started enjoying the service and their experiences are all being shared online. “I have my Tigo WhatsApp free service here and that’s why I can chat over night,” wrote Lilian Mpingo a member of Mtaa kwa Mtaa group.
She said having access to the service has made her to stay connected for 24 hours through a whole week and month. “At first, I had to regularly buy weekly internet bundles to chat with my colleagues through WhatsApp and often got cut off when the bundle is finished although I was still able to make phone calls and send text messages,” Mpingo noted saying the free services has been a big relief to her.
WhatsAppis a sister application to Facebook, the social network that Tigo has been in partnership with since 2014 when it first gave its customers free Facebook access in Kiswahili.
Tigo also launched an ultra modern internet connection service called Tigo 4G LTE last year that customers are enjoying in five regions and will soon cover the entire country.
Last year, the company announced an increased annual investment of US $ 120 million per year on infrastructure improvement and expansion which is 20% higher than Tigo’s annual spending in the past three years.
Tigo is the biggest commercial brand of Millicom, an international company developing the digital lifestyle in 12 countries with commercial operations in Africa and Latin America and corporate offices in Europe and the USA.
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