This price increase, while significant, is still half of what businesses pay for traditional SMSs. WhatsApp introduced a new messaging category dubbed “authentication-international” last week, which costs INR 2.3 per message. This will come into effect from June 1, 2024. The enterprise messaging industry, which comprises SMS, WhatsApp Business, Google RCS, and push notifications, is presently valued at more than INR 7,600 crore.
A significant change in its pricing plan to increase income from enterprise services was made by Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp when it introduced a new category for international one-time passwords (OTPs).
The updated price for these texts in India is now 20 times more than it was previously. Despite the dramatic hike, the cost is still half of what businesses pay for regular SMS, indicating WhatsApp’s desire to lure more businesses to this expanding area, according to ET.
According to the article, the new category, dubbed ‘authentication-international’ messages, would be priced at INR 2.3 per message for the Indian and Indonesian markets starting June 1, as mentioned on WhatsApp’s website.
The decision is likely to have an impact on multinational corporations’ communication budgets, such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, which have been utilizing WhatsApp as a low-cost alternative to India’s expensive international SMS rates.
Local firms were taxed INR 0.12 each SMS by telecom operators, whilst abroad corporations were charged $0.05 (about INR 4.13). Due to the price difference, WhatsApp implemented a consistent rate of INR 0.11 per OTP message for all businesses. However, under the new system, international corporations will now be taxed INR 2.3 per message, according to the report.
Currently valued at approximately INR 7600 Cr, the enterprise communications industry encompasses SMS, WhatsApp Business, Google RCS, and push notifications. Furthermore, according to Juniper Research, OTT corporate messaging traffic in India is expected to reach 24.2 billion messages by 2028, up from 4 billion in 2023.
Nonetheless, traditional telecom SMS continues to dominate this business, accounting for approximately 90% of the market share. OTP verification is used for a variety of applications, including application logins, financial transactions, and service delivery, accounting for around 80% of all business messaging communication.
Juniper Research also stated in 2023 that India’s telecom carriers are likely to lose $29.2 million (approximately INR 250 crore) in business messaging (SMS) revenue to over-the-top (OTT) messaging platforms over the next five years.
In September of last year, WhatsApp formally announced the introduction of WhatsApp Channels in over 150 countries, including India
WhatsApp Channels are a private way for WhatsApp users to receive updates that are important to them, according to a blog post from the tech major.
