Telegram Is Going to Introduce Premium Subscriptions
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has announced the messaging app, which has been free to use since it debuted in 2013, is going to introduce a subscription-based Premium offering.
"After giving it some thought," Durov says(Opens in a new window), "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. That's why this month we will introduce Telegram Premium, a subscription plan that allows anyone to acquire additional features, speed and resources."
Durov goes on to say Telegram doesn't plan to charge free users for existing features; instead the company will introduce new features to Premium subscribers. But, perhaps most important for a service that already has tens of millions of users, those Premium features are supposed to make using Telegram better even for people who decide not to sign up themselves.
Free users will be able to "enjoy some of [Telegram Premium's] benefits: for example, they will be able to view extra-large documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or tap to add Premium reactions already pinned to a message to react in the same way," Durov says. (Whether that's motivated by altruism or technical limitations was left unsaid.)
Telegram is expected to release its Premium offering later this month. The company hasn't announced pricing for this subscription, however, or revealed in what markets it will be available.
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