Telegram Premium subscription may cost Rs 349 per month in India

Telegram Premium is similar to Twitter Blue, which offers paid subscribers access to services such as an Undo Tweet option to reverse the posting of a tweet.

Telegram Premium has reportedly started being rolled out to users in India. The instant messaging app earlier this month announced it will put some advanced features behind a paywall and let users access them through a subscription. This is the first time Telegram has started a freemium model for its app ever since it became available nine years ago.

IndiaTodayTech has seen the screenshot posted in a Telegram group by a user who claims to have access to Telegram Premium. According to the screenshot of Telegram's Windows 11 app, Telegram Premium costs Rs 349 per month. For that price, subscribers will get access to "additional features, speed, and resources."

Telegram did not comment.

"Go beyond the limits, get exclusive features, and support us by subscribing to Telegram Premium," reads the description of Telegram Premium. The list of features, as mentioned on Telegram Premium's page, includes doubled limits, 4GB upload size, faster download speed, voice-to-text conversion, no advertisements, unique reactions, premium stickers, advanced chat management, profile badge, animated profile pictures, and a premium app icon.

It is notable that these features are not currently available to regular Telegram users. For instance, the upload size for files currently is 2GB, but subscribers will get access to an extra 2GB. Telegram also said that the features that are currently available to free users will remain accessible. "Moreover, even users who don't subscribe to Telegram Premium will be able to enjoy some of its benefits: for example, they will be able to view extra-large documents, media and stickers sent by Premium users, or tap to add Premium reactions already pinned to a message to react in the same way," Telegram founder Pavel Durov wrote on Telegram.

Telegram Premium is similar to Twitter Blue, which offers paid subscribers access to services such as an Undo Tweet option to reverse the posting of a tweet - a substitute for the edit button that Twitter said it is working on currently. But a subscription is ideally meant for people who spend a lot of time on a particular app. For those who do not, the features available in the free tier are sufficient. At the same time, a subscription also means there is a reasonably good proportion of users who love Telegram and want access to extra features.