Telegram, a cloud-based mobile and desktop messaging app is set to begin subscription packages for its services from next month. According to the founder Pavel Durov, a paid Premium offering is coming later this month which will go above and beyond the current free experience.
This announcement was contained in a broadcast message on “Durov’s channel’ on the telegram app
“This month we will introduce Telegram Premium, a subscription plan that allows anyone to acquire additional features, speed and resources. It will also allow users to support Telegram and join the club that receives new features first’ some of the content reads.
The new update will provide subscribers with the opportunity to tap into certain premium extras such as the ability to view “extra-large” documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or add premium reactions if they’ve already been pinned to a message.
Durov says the move is in response to users’ demand for an increase in the already existing storage/bandwidth
“After giving it some thought, we realized that the only way to let our most demanding fans get more while keeping our existing features free is to make those raised limits a paid option,” he wrote.
The exact details of the subscription and what Premium users will get were not contained in Durov’s broadcast message. However, Tech Steroid’s reporters were able to gather that the first Premium package is an increase in file upload size. Telegram Premium subscribers can also upload files of sizes up to 4GB while non-premium users will continue to have 2GB as the upload size.
Other features include- Faster Download Speeds, Voice-to-Text Conversion, No Ads, Premium Stickers, Advanced Chat Management features, a star icon badge next to their name and so much more.
The subscription price was also placed at $4.99 per month based on an analysis of the beta app. This is however subject to review pending an official announcement from the company.
At the time of this report, it is not clear whether Telegram intends to leverage the premium package on its 500 million + monthly active users to cover costs for extra resources or to generate extra revenue.
This is because Telegram had initially taken external funding to pay its server bills and its $1 million debt last year. Although the platform has been test-running ads, Durov is still of the opinion that Telegram should be funded primarily by its users and not advertisers.
