Qatar telecom operator offers free data services for WeChat app

Qatar-based telecom operator Ooredoo Myanmar has offered free data services for WeChat Myanmar app under a partnership program between the two communication apps, an official report said Tuesday.

Under a joint promotion program launched in Yangon by Ooredoo Myanmar and WeChat Myanmar, Ooredoo will waive data usage fee for the instant messaging app starting Monday.

The promotion covers 200 MB of free data use for the instant messaging app for the period from Sept. 7 to Oct. 31.

WeChat, one of the world's popular social communication apps, has 600 million monthly users worldwide, according to the WeChat Myanmar country manager. However, the number of users in Myanmar is yet to be estimated.

WeChat, owned by China's Tencent Ltd, offers users high discount on call, text and voice messages.

Ooredoo, along with Norway-based Telenor, was awarded by the Myanmar government an initial 15 years' operator licenses in June 2013 and currently has 4.6 million users nationwide.

The number of Myanmar's mobile phone users has been on sharp rise, reaching 8.278 million as of April 2014, up 7.139 million from merely 1.139 million as of March 2011, thanks to the competitive introduction of more low-priced sim cards across the country by state and foreign telecom operators.