Durov said that Telegram is funded primarily by its users,
not advertisers.” So starting from June, users will have to pay for some of the
features. However, Telegram will not charge for the existing features. Only the
new features will be chargeable.
Talking about its new Premium plan, Pavel Durov noted on its
Telegram channel, “After giving it some thought, 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. It will also allow users to support Telegram and join the club that
receives new features first.
Durov said that premium services have been launched for
users who have been asking Telegram to “raise the current limits even further.”
He also stated that the feature will provide more speed and
resources.” However, he stated that the problem is removed is that if they
remove all limits for everyone, Telegram’s server and traffic costs would
become unmanageable. So he thought the only way to increase limits is by making
them a paid option.
He further stated that even users who don't subscribe to
Telegram Premium will get access to some of the features. Durov noted that
users 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.
Last month, Telegram introduced a boost of features
including custom notification sounds, custom mute durations, auto delete menu
in profiles, replies in forwarded and message translations on iOS.
Back in 2021, India was the largest market for Telegram with
22 per cent of its lifetime installs. Telegram has been around since 2013 but
it witnessed an exponential growth only after WhatsApp’s confusing policies
came into play. A lot of users who were clueless about WhatsApp’s new terms of
service and privacy policies downloaded Telegram, fearing invasion of privacy.