(ANSA) - MILAN, 13 JUN - As anticipated in recent months, Telegram is ready to make a paid version available as well.
The messaging app, a competitor of WhatsApp, was experiencing a boom since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine with many Russians who decided to use it to communicate with each other, also following Moscow's decision to consider Meta-Facebook, which runs WhatsApp, an organization "extremist".
In a long post on his personal channel, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the Premium version will offer users "additional features, speed and resources".
These include the ability to upload larger files, stickers and reactions accessible only to payers.
All others will be able to download files larger than 2gb, if sent by Premium subscribers, also displaying the mailed stickers but without being able to forward, copy and paste them elsewhere.
At the moment there are no specifics on the cost of the fee for the paid version, but in recent weeks the bet of the app, that is, a trial, was intended to cost 4.99 dollars per month.
Durov clarifies that existing Telegram features will remain free and that paid features will not affect the experience of others.
As explained by the founder, the arrival of a Premium version of Telegram was necessary to face the expenses that the company is facing, especially in terms of managing the servers that store files, from chats protected by encryption to photos and videos.
Durov had mentioned for the first time the possibility of a subscription mode in 2020.
(ANSA).
