Facebook to gain more subscribers and expand its mobile services in the Middle East

Dubai: WhatsApp is growing fast in the region due to the strong growth in mobile phone and smartphone penetration rates, industry experts told Gulf News on Thursday.

The world’s biggest social networking company said on Wednesday it will pay $19 billion (Dh69.7 billion) to acquiring WhatsApp - paying $12 billion in Facebook stock and $4 billion in cash for WhatsApp.

“Apparently, Facebook will gain more subscribers and expand its mobile services in the Middle East. It makes sense for Facebook to purchase WhatsApp, definitely in the Middle East, as the penetration rates of mobile phones in certain Gulf countries have crossed 100 per cent,” Fadi Salem, the Director of the Governance and Innovation Program, and Fellow, at the Mohammad Bin Rashid School of Government, told Gulf News.

Facebook had 945 million monthly active users worldwide who used mobile products and 1.23 billion monthly active users in 2013.