Mobile messaging platform WhatsApp poses “no threat” to phone carriers who rely on SMS revenue. Given the popularity of the service, that statement seems pretty hard to believe at first glance. Who chooses to send paid-for SMSes anymore when you can WhatsApp your buddies to your heart’s content (or until your thumbs malfunction) for free?

But WhatsApp’s co-founder Brian Acton says that his free messaging service will help generate greater revenue for cell phone carriers in the long run by encouraging customers to buy more expensive data packages.

“I view it from the perspective that we’re facilitating a broad movement to data plans and the entities that provide those plans are the carriers, so they stand to benefit quite substantially,” said Brian in a rare interview. “It’s all about the data.”

Short-term however, providers are definitely feeling the pinch. In the USA last year, carriers lost close to $14 billion in SMS revenue according to technology research company Ovum. Meanwhile, WhatsApp has seen usership of its service rise dramatically in recent months. The platform handled one billion messages a day last October. By February this year, volumes had risen to  two billion messages a day.

Little wonder that Acton is doing his best to convince cell providers around the world they have nothing to worry about.

[Source: ITWeb]