WhatsApp to allow free voice calls by middle of 2014

Fresh from a $19-billion (Dh69.7 billion) takeover by Facebook, mobile messaging service WhatsApp said on Monday it will launch free voice calls by the middle of 2014.

The introduction of free calls, revealed on the opening day of the four-day World Mobile Congress in Barcelona, Spain, would match rival application Viber’s similar offering.

“We are going to introduce voice on WhatsApp in the second quarter of this year,” WhatsApp founder Jan Koum said.

Facebook, whose 29-year-old billionaire creator Mark Zuckerberg was the star speaker on the opening day of the industry fair, announced a stock and cash purchase of WhatsApp on Wednesday.