How do you see that relationship evolving? At the end of the day, what carriers have to realise is that applications like Viber offer something that users want. Companies like Viber live in constant tension with telecom carriers who complain about loss of revenue. Some of our competitors have been marketing themselves aggressively to gain users but Viber has grown mostly by word of mouth and that is testament to what users think of competing products. Some features such as the ability to switch a call that is already in progress from one device to another - say from tablet to a phone, or desktop to tablet without interrupting the conversation - makes us unique.

Unlike most of our competition, Viber is available on multiple platforms, including desktops and even tablets now. I think Viber is far ahead on that front. It is a competition between the R&D departments at each of these companies to come out with features that enrich user experience. But it helps you narrow down if you look at the features that they offer. How will you differentiate Viber? Sure, there are numerous players in the market.

The market for instant messaging apps is getting crowded. In an exclusive interview, Marco told Lison Joseph about the company's plans to monetise the popular platform. The company has already signed up 15 million users in India and is gearing up to tap the market aggressively, according to CEO and founder Talmon Marco, an Israeli entrepreneur. Viber has expanded beyond small-screen devices to tap users on desktops and tablets as well, taking the fight to traditional voice-over-internet players such as Skype, which is owned by Microsoft. On mobile phones, it competes with rivals such as Whatsapp, Line and WeChat. With over 200 million users, Viber is among the fastest-growing instant messaging applications.

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