The number of LINE messenger users operated by the Japanese arm of South Korea's top portal provider Naver Corp. has surpassed the 1 billion mark five years after its launch in 2011, the company said Thursday.
The number of monthly active users, or MAU, of the social networking mobile application stood at 215 million globally as of December last year, Line Corp. said at the LINE Conference Tokyo 2016 held in Japan.
The messenger operator said it is making significant growth in its sticker, game, character, music and live content businesses.
A maximum of 2.4 billion stickers are sent and received in a single day and the total downloads for games released by LINE Games reached 640 million as of last month, according to the company.
In addition to 44 "LINE FRIENDS STORES," shops selling character merchandises, in 11 countries, Line is planning to open more stores in Beijing and other Chinese cities in 2016.
The company plans to soon roll out its new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) called "LINE Mobile" this summer.
MVNOs refer to mobile service providers that rent networks from the country's existing carriers.
As they save on network operation costs, MVNOs usually provide users with plans cheaper than those of the major carriers.
"LINE aims to become a 'Smart Portal,' through which users can access the people, information, services, companies and brands they want, online or offline, anywhere they are and anytime they need to, 24/7," the company said. (Yonhap)
