Within 72 hours of WhatsApp’s privacy policy update at the start of the year, approximately 25 million users across the world had downloaded Telegram and over 800,000 joined Signal. South Africa was no exception, as a number of mobile customers downloaded and activated Telegram accounts too.
Telkom re-launched the FreeMe proposition in March 2020, with WhatsApp calling and data as one of the selling points for FreeMe. Available as postpaid, top-up and prepaid bundles, FreeMe value includes voice calls, SMS’s, all-purpose data, data for streaming and WhatsApp data,
Andrew Dawson, executive: product portfolio management, commented:
The telecommunications company will not get rid of WhatsApp, it has simply added Telegram to the FreeMe value: “The addition of Telegram to the FreeMe offer is a proactive initiative that seeks to give our customers more options to communicate, using their chosen FreeMe offer. We’ve observed considerable uptake to the platform as a business. Our customers have reached out to us through social media and other channels to ask when Telegram would be coming to Telkom. We are thrilled that we have been able to answer their request and offer them something still within the FreeMe plans that they see value in and love.Impacted products are:
