WhatsApp has become free for Beeline subscribers - the first transaction in the history of Russia for a telecom operator and messenger

Beeline subscribers will get free unlimited access to WhatsApp messenger. VimpelCom and WhatsApp concluded an agreement. Free traffic for the messenger will be received by users of the “All” tariff plan. WhatsApp is the most common messenger in Russia, mentioned in the message of Mikhail Slobodin, VimpelCom CEO.



Until now, no Russian operator has concluded agreements with OTT services (in this case, this is the instant messenger). The offer will be valid from October 26 to January 15, 2016.



Beeline and WhatsApp are united in their desire to provide the best communication tools, and the fact that the operator’s subscribers will have unlimited access to the WhatsApp service shows Beeline as an innovator in mobile communications in Russia, ”commented the agreement Yan Kum, CEO and co-founder of whatsapp.

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“The messenger is a vital application for any smartphone user in Russia, and we are proud that our customers will be able to enjoy such a affordable offer,” said Mikhail Slobodin. A company representative told Lente.ru that the network capacity is sufficient for uninterrupted communication of subscribers via WhatsApp.



Beeline has already completely zeroed out the cost of 4G / LTE communication on the “Everything” and “Everything for Business” tariffs. Beeline customers can connect to the Vse tariffs for free, new customers must pay the appropriate connection fee.



Russia, along with Brazil, Mexico and India, ranks among the top 10 countries in terms of the number of WhatsApp messenger users, according to a US company. In Russia, the application has more than 30 million monthly active users.



Further, “Megamind” cites user comments from comments to the message of Slobodin on Facebook (spelling and punctuation are preserved):

- Is it really worth something? And photos, videos and music downloaded via vatsap are also charged for free?).



- A good PR move. But messengers consume so little traffic that is ridiculous. Text and images with very active use - 150-200 mb per month. And calls - 0.8 mb / min. Such a small amount of traffic is not noticeable in any Internet packages.



- Oil oil. On the “all” tariffs, there is so much traffic that you can use the votsap until blue in the face, without stocks.



- Give us cool international packages! And then MTS raised the cost by 2.5 times without warning.



- Vaberu has reason to apply to the anti-monopoly committee with a request to ensure equal competitive opportunities.

UPD 1

An interesting story happened with the "free" 4G.

With 4G, Beeline already had a “good” move. When they promised unlimited LTE until February, but in the end it turned out to be a fake: no-limit was turned on only after the main package was exhausted. At first, that is, they untied their hands “download it through 4G as much as you like,” and then they said “your traffic has ended.”



Here are the terms of the promotion:



“For customers of prepaid payment system: Internet traffic on the 4G network is free of charge and does not consume the Internet package included in the monthly fee for your tariff. With the exhaustion of a packet of traffic in 2G / 3G networks, the speed is limited to 64 kbps, and the Internet in 4G network continues to work at maximum speed!



For customers of the postpaid payment system: the Internet on the 4G network becomes completely free and unlimited after your basic Internet package has ended. Until exhaustion of the main package, 4G Internet works under the terms of your tariff.



Everything is right for them - I’m angry spiteful to myself.

But to me, when connected to the OPERATORS, they said that 4G traffic was not consumed by me. Although they see the postpaid system. And so a man like that five exactly, including two on the day when the speed cut. And their supervisor or specialist said that she would deal with the problem, and I would add 3 GB of Internet so that I would not be left without a network.