Mint Kolkata

Telegram app hits 900 million users

- AFP feedback@livemint.com DUBAI

sidiaries that were dragging the margins have to be turned around. It has also exited some non-profitable contracts. The Switch and its existing business combined will become profitable this year while Kaleyra acquisitio­n merged with the business in the US is expected to turn profitable in two years.

He said that while plans for private 5G were not on the back burner with some proof of concepts already done for customers, the correct pricing for leasing spectrum from telcos for private 5G has to be determined.

“It has to all come together, giving spectrum at the right price points, government allowing enterprise­s to get spectrum directly, when will they (telcos) be ready and more importantl­y, the customers readiness,” he said.

The company added that during the quarter ended March 2024, it received show cause-cum-demand notice for FY23 aggregatin­g to ₹77.65 crore. Separately, it said that one of its subsidiari­es had issued a terminatio­n notice to a customer – alluding to Vodafone Idea without naming it - and was in discussion on disengagem­ent transition plan. The carrying amount of trade receivable­s (including unbilled revenue and net of provisions) was ₹235.10 crores and ₹171.50 crore as on March 31, 2024 and March 31, 2023 respective­ly.

“The Group believes that the balance is good and recoverabl­e basis its on-going interactio­ns with that customer,” the company added. year-on year profit decline in the fourth quarter

The encrypted messaging app Telegram has reached more than 900 million active users and should pass the one-billion mark within a year, its boss said in an interview published Wednesday.

“Telegraph is spreading like a forest fire. Two-and-a-half million users sign up every day,” said Pavel Durov, the Russian who founded the company alongside his brother Nikolai, in a rare interview with controvers­ial right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson.

People “love the independen­ce. They also love the privacy, the freedom, (there are) a lot of reasons why somebody would switch to Telegram”, Durov told Carlson.

The encrypted messaging app, based in Dubai, has positioned itself as an alternativ­e to US-owned platforms, which have been criticised for their commercial exploitati­on of users’ personal data. Telegram has committed itself to never disclosing any informatio­n

Boss Pavel Durov says the encrypted messaging app should pass the one-billion mark within a year

about its users.

Durov said he got the idea to launch an encrypted messaging app after coming under pressure from the Russian government when working at VK, a social network he created in his home country before selling it and leaving Russia in 2014.

He said he then tried to settle in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco before choosing Dubai, which he praised for its business environmen­t and “neutrality”. “I think we’re doing a great job with Telegram. 900 million users will probably cross a billion monthly active users within a year from now,” he said. By basing itself in the United Arab Emirates, Telegram has been able to shield itself from moderation laws at a time when Western countries are pressuring large platforms to remove illegal content.

Telegram allows groups of up to 200,000 members, which has led to accusation­s that it makes it easier for false informatio­n to spread virally, as well as for users to disseminat­e hateful, neo-Nazi, paedophili­c, conspirato­rial and terrorist content.

 ?? ?? Ebitda was up 2% to ₹1,056 crore, but margins slipped to 18.6% in Jan-Mar from 22.6% a year ago.
Ebitda was up 2% to ₹1,056 crore, but margins slipped to 18.6% in Jan-Mar from 22.6% a year ago.
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