Telegram, an encrypted messaging service, has lowered the cost of its premium users’ monthly subscriptions in India from Rs 469 to Rs 179. The platform announced the reduction in membership rates in a message to its users in the nation as it focuses on rapidly expanding in a market where WhatsApp has roughly 500 million users.
One of the main markets for Telegram, which has more than 700 million monthly active users worldwide, is India. In India, Telegram has more than 120 million users, and it hopes to quickly saturate the constantly expanding WhatsApp user base.
A recent study by techARC found that at least one in five Indian respondents preferred Telegram over WhatsApp for a variety of reasons, including that they felt it was secure and respected their privacy, that it had features like channels, that it allowed users to be in a single group, and that it allowed sharing of large files.
More than 32 per cent of those surveyed admitted to using Telegram to deliver sensitive messages.
The average monthly cost for premium Telegram subscribers is between $4.99 and $6.
The encrypted messaging service released an update last month that gave users more emoji options for expressing their emotions, including limitless reactions and emoji statuses.
According to the company, Premium customers can choose from an infinite number of unique emojis for their reactions.
Group administrators can now decide whether custom reactions are allowed in their groups or not after the latest update.
Now that animated emoji statuses are available, premium members may instantly let everyone know how they are feeling or what they are up to.
(With inputs from IANS)
