By Brontë H. Lacsamana, Reporter
MESSAGING PLATFORM Viber is launching a free 30-minute call per user every month to any local mobile line or landline, starting this week. The Philippines is the first country in the world to enjoy this service, being one of the app’s focus markets in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. The country saw an increase of over 50% in Viber voice calls in 2021.
“We see that, in some parts depending on infrastructure, people just use mobile or landline… and sometimes you may be calling a part of the Philippines that may not have internet infrastructure at all,” said David Tse, Rakuten Viber’s senior director for APAC, in an interview with BusinessWorld.
“Thinking that everyone should have a smartphone — that’s not true. You can’t force everyone [to have one]. Whatever phone they’re using, they just want a simple call,” he added.
The calls will be available to any line and are limited to only 30 minutes. The initiative is a direct response to Filipino users’ needs to contact loved ones across the country.
Because of significant growth in content consumption in different categories like food, entertainment, sports, and even travel, the platform is also working on continuously improving itself as a companion app for businesses, content creators, and merchants.
Mr. Tse explained: “We believe the quality of interaction is more important than the number of features that you have. We will continue to roll out features, but we’ll focus on listening to our users in different categories and how we’re enhancing their benefits.”
In 2021, Viber recorded 33% growth in monthly active users, with an increase of about 54% in business messages.
The Food PH bot, one of Viber’s fastest growing channels, reflects the strength of the app as a helpful tool for brands and businesses, according to Mr. Tse. Meanwhile, Backstage Pass, a project that lets Filipino music artists engage with users in a safe, exclusive channel, shows how the platform can be a very positive space.
“We’re not a food or entertainment company, but at the end of the day, we have a clean and positive environment so that a lot of content creators find us a good companion app where they interact directly with their consumers,” he said.
With the Philippines being a top market, Viber continues to enhance both system and human moderation to ensure there’s no inappropriate content. Two-step authentication and end-to-end encryption are also there to ensure privacy and safety.
“By understanding customers, I’d say we’re getting closer to being more effective in content consumption rather than just being a communication platform,” said Mr. Tse.
