WhatsApp, Texting Apps Will Drain $33 Billion From Telecoms This Year

Facebook sees WhatsApp as the future of communication. Telecoms view it another way: as a menace that is extracting revenues.

Telecoms have typically charged users for texting plans, especially outside the United States. WhatsApp or one of its many competitors, including Line, WeChat, Apple's iMessage and BlackBerry's BBM, will deprive the carriers of such revenues to the tune of $32.5 billion this year, according to researcher Ovum. By 2016, Ovum predicts that figure will jump to $54 billion

U.S. carriers often throw in unlimited texting with their data plans. Abroad, it's a different story. Since carriers charge for texting, adoption of such work-around apps has risen dramatically. For wireless telecoms, it's a repeat of the growth of Skype in the 2000s, another workaround that deflated revenues charged for international calls. Read more...