LINE has just announced that over 15 billion free calls have been made using LINE free-call since its launch in October 2011. The service is built into the messaging app and shouldn’t be confused with the Line Call service that was launched earlier this year.
“Rapid growth of 3G and 4G networks” makes free calls “more and more important” for users
LINE is one of only a few all-in-one applications, giving users the ability to share stickers, photos, video and files while also enabling a high quality free-call service and a growing library of mobile games, though these games aren’t yet available on Windows PCs, tablets, or phones.
LINE added the PC version of free voice-call in December 2012 and Video-call in September 2013, ultimately leading to over 36 million free call sessions occurring daily on the LINE network.
“Thanks to the rapid growth of 3G and 4G networks in Europe, free-calls are becoming more and more important for our users.” said Sunny Kim, head of LINE Europe. “We are delighted to have hit the milestone of 15 billion free calls globally and look forward to continuing to provide our customers with high quality communication tools.”
LINE is quick to point out that it has been fully committed to consistently improving the quality of its LINE-to-LINE voice call, video call and LINE Premium Call and continues to conduct research and experiments to ensure all services meet rigorous international standards, including ITU-T[1] recommendations. As a result of these experiments, LINE says its voice call voice quality improved by 120% between late 2012 and the first half of 2014.
LINE call quality improved by 120% since late 2012
This news follows the announcement that WhatsApp will be launching its own free voice calling service next year. Other apps — including Skype, Tango, Viber, and Facebook Messenger — also offer free calling through their apps. It will be interesting to see how other messaging apps respond as calling continues to become a standard part of the experience.
You can download LINE on most major mobile platforms.