Telegram is approaching 500 million active users, a figure that plans challenges for the maintenance of the messaging service and that has led its founder, Pavel Durov, to share his plans for the future of the service from 2021.
The growth that the application has experienced leads to an increase in the cost of servers and traffic. During this time, Durov himself has been in charge of covering the expenses with his personal savings, but it is a measure that cannot be extended over time.
“With its current growth, Telegram is on its way to reach billions of users and require adequate funding,” Durov noted in a publication, indicating that, “when a technology project reaches this scale, there are generally two options: start making money to cover costs or sell the business.”
Durov has assured that they will not sell the company”as the founders of WhatsApp did.” But it has reported that Telegram will begin to have income next year, in a non-intrusive way that most users “barely notice.”
This will be done through new features and payment functions that will be introduced for businesses or the most active users. Normal users will continue to have access to the usual features, which will be free.
Source: dpa
