13m calls, 25m spam SMES blocked in Nigeria - Truecaller

ITREALMS:

Over 13 million calls and some 25 million spam Short Messaging Services (SMSes) per month, have been blocked in Nigeria, ITRealms authoritatively reports.

According to the Truecaller application, these are mainly from people predominantly using Nokia and BlackBerry phones, to a wide array of Androids and Apples.

With over 20 per cent of its user-base in Africa, Truecaller app service identifies over half a billion calls a month in the region, and 50 per cent of SMS received were spam.

Confirming this, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and co-founder of Truecaller, Alan Mamedi, noted that the cost of both mobile phones and data continues to nose-dive, people all around are now armed with connected devices.

“There is an increased importance placed on smartphones in peoples’ daily lives. It’s their primary gateway to the internet, their connection with family and friends, people abroad, and increasingly their main banking and finance tool,” he said.

In addition, Truecaller, he said, is pleased and excited to announce that it now has over 100 million daily active users, using the app for their daily communication.

“There are only a handful of mobile-only services that impact as many users each and every day and we are humbled to be able to join this exclusive group,” Mamedi said.

Chuks Egbune/GEE

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Truecaller soars to 100m daily active users

ITREALMS:

The Truecaller app has reached over 100 million active users in less than a year following is leapfrogging from 100 million monthly active users (MAUs) per month to 100 million daily active users (DAUs), and is growing faster than ever, reports ITRealms.

With over 20 per cent of its user-base in Africa, Truecaller app service identifies more than half a billion calls a month in the region, and 50 per cent of SMS received were spam.

ITRealms gathered that in Nigeria the application blocks and filters more than 13 million calls and 25 million spam SMSes per month.

From people predominantly using Nokia and BlackBerry phones, to a wide array of Androids and Apple’s, technology is constantly evolving around us. The cost of both mobile phones and data continues to plunge, people all around are now armed with connected devices.

In emerging markets, there is an increased importance placed on smartphones in peoples’ daily lives. It’s their primary gateway to the internet, their connection with family and friends, people abroad, and increasingly their main banking and finance tool.

Alan Mamedi, CEO & co-founder of Truecaller, said: “Close to a decade ago, we set out to solve what we thought was a simple problem – how do we figure out who these unknown numbers belong to that keeps calling us? Little did we know how big of a problem that actually was in all corners of the world.”

“It was so big, in fact, that Truecaller is pleased and excited to announce that we now have more than 100 million daily active users using our app for their daily communication. There are only a handful of mobile-only services that impact as many users each and every day and we are humbled to be able to join this exclusive group,” says Mamedi.

The proliferation of new and advanced technologies that are ever evolving, Truecaller has also come a long way since the day the company was founded. From simple beginnings as a Caller ID and spam blocking app, to a full fledge communications platform with calling, SMS’, Flash Messages and payment services.

“We could never have predicted that Truecaller would become an indispensable resource for women’s safety in many countries; or that it would be used for e-commerce and courier services around the globe to facilitate the difficult last mile of delivery; or allow more people to experience a data-only product in offline mode,” says Mamedi. “Truecaller is more than just an app on your phone, it has aided in bridging the digital divide between the urban and growing semi urban/rural markets in India; and has even enabled more African businesses to accept online payment.”

“We’re continuously working to make communications safer and efficient and the fact that we have so many users validates our mission. We’re excited to see what the next decade and 100 million users bring us. So to all millions of users who helped us get here we would like to say thank you,” Mamedi said.

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Truecaller, VConnect partner to expand Sub-Saharan operations

ITREALMS:

Truecaller and VConnect have entered into partnership to expand Sub-Saharan operations, reports ITRealms.

By this, ITRealms reports that Truecaller has integrated VConnect’s Business directory to its applications, which allowing users to efficiently identify VConnect’s service providers.

Last year Truecaller and VConnect launched Truecaller Priority in Nigeria enabling businesses on VConnect to quickly identify if a call is a potential prospect. Many users searching for businesses on VConnect.com, call the numbers mentioned in their profile.

These numbers, ITRealms reports were routed through VConnect intermediate numbers, are marked as ‘Priority’ in the Truecaller app.

Speaking on the occasion, Naveen Luthra, Director – Growth and Partnerships at VConnect said, “This step of integrating our business listings on Truecaller platform, will further empower SMEs in Nigeria to get more visibility and new customers. This partnership deepens the relationships between two organisations, to bring about digital inclusion of small businesses here.”

Truecaller further revealed it will be setting up headquarters in Nairobi and has recruited Zakaria Hersi as Director of Partnerships for Africa. In this position, Zakaria is spearheading its expansion in the region where he forges partnerships with various eco-system players.

“I’m excited to join Truecaller in such interesting juncture. My aim is to build upon the strong foundation that we have as a brand here and double up the pace of our growth and ambitions in the market. In the coming months we plan to roll out more partnerships and new services localized for the market.” said Zakaria Hersi, Director of Partnerships, Africa at Truecaller.

Zakaria has a background of launching marketplaces around the world, and has helped the Swedish Investment firm Kinnevik launch Saltside in Nigeria where he was the Managing Director. He also had two stints working for Swedish based company Besedo, where he helped open offices in Colombia and Mauritius. During his period at Besedo he worked closely with some of the largest marketplaces (eBay, Match.com & OLX) in Europe and South America, and was responsible for post-merger integration of the company and French AI company IoSquare.

Late last year Truecaller launched its Developer Program with Truecaller SDK, its mobile identity product for digital start-ups and app developers, and announced that they will be doubling down on their monetization initiative, and introduce its Truecaller Priority program in Sub-Sahara Africa.

Truecaller has become one of the fastest growing consumer apps in Africa, and has consistently been topping the App Store Charts across the continent for the past two years.

Nonye Dom/GEE

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