Way2SMS: The Free SMS Revolution That Defined Early Mobile India
Remember the days when sending an SMS felt like a luxury? Back in the mid-2000s, calling was expensive, and message packs vanished fast. That's when Way2SMS burst onto the scene, letting millions send free texts online. For many of us in 2009–2010, it was a lifesaver—hitting up friends, sharing jokes, or just staying connected without watching the balance.
The man behind it was Raju Vanapala, a first-generation entrepreneur from Hyderabad. After finishing his MCA, he moved to the city in 2003 with big dreams. He started Way2Online Interactive in 2004 in a modest flat with a small team. Then, in December 2006, they launched Way2SMS—India's first major free web-to-mobile SMS portal.
The model was clever and bold: Buy SMS in bulk from telecom operators at lower rates, offer them free to users, and slap a small ad (those cheeky 20-character "Mobitisements") at the end of every message. Revenue came from those ads, but in the early years (2006–2009), traffic exploded while profits didn't. Raju has shared how the site became wildly popular, yet costs—servers, bandwidth, taxes—outpaced earnings. There were tough months when he funded it from his own pocket, racking up credit card bills and personal loans. He even joked about praying for less traffic sometimes, because more users meant more losses!
Things turned around in 2009. With massive pageviews, they leaned into Google AdSense on the website. That, plus cheaper bulk SMS rates from telecoms, flipped the script. By May 2009, they hit cashflow positive; full profitability followed in 2010. User numbers soared—10 million by 2010, climbing higher later. Peak seasons like festivals or New Year meant the team worked round-the-clock to handle the flood of messages without crashes.
By 2011–2012, Way2SMS was at its height: millions of users across India, especially in smaller towns, and even an acquisition attempt (ValueFirst bought it in 2012 for a reported ~₹200 crore, but disputes led to an out-of-court reversal in 2013, returning control to Raju).
Then came the smartphone wave. WhatsApp arrived, offering free messaging over data, with stickers, groups, and no character limits. Telecom plans got cheaper, internet spread. SMS demand tanked—not just for Way2SMS, but industry-wide. The free SMS feature eventually faded as the world moved on.
But Raju didn't give up. He pivoted the company to something new: Way2News, launched around 2015–2016. Today, it's a leading hyperlocal vernacular news app, delivering short, relevant stories in regional languages to millions in Bharat. Using AI for curation and personalization, it serves bite-sized news from local areas—exactly the kind of quick, useful content people now crave on mobile.
From bootstrapped struggles in a Hyderabad flat to building a news platform with strong revenue (reports show healthy growth in recent years), Raju's story is a reminder of resilience in India's startup world. Way2SMS may be a memory now, but it sparked free digital communication for millions—and evolved into something still very much alive in 2026. Nostalgia hits different when you realize how far we've come.
Remember the days when sending an SMS felt like a luxury? Back in the mid-2000s, calling was expensive, and message packs vanished fast. That's when Way2SMS burst onto the scene, letting millions send free texts online. For many of us in 2009–2010, it was a lifesaver—hitting up friends, sharing jokes, or just staying connected without watching the balance.
The man behind it was Raju Vanapala, a first-generation entrepreneur from Hyderabad. After finishing his MCA, he moved to the city in 2003 with big dreams. He started Way2Online Interactive in 2004 in a modest flat with a small team. Then, in December 2006, they launched Way2SMS—India's first major free web-to-mobile SMS portal.
The model was clever and bold: Buy SMS in bulk from telecom operators at lower rates, offer them free to users, and slap a small ad (those cheeky 20-character "Mobitisements") at the end of every message. Revenue came from those ads, but in the early years (2006–2009), traffic exploded while profits didn't. Raju has shared how the site became wildly popular, yet costs—servers, bandwidth, taxes—outpaced earnings. There were tough months when he funded it from his own pocket, racking up credit card bills and personal loans. He even joked about praying for less traffic sometimes, because more users meant more losses!
Things turned around in 2009. With massive pageviews, they leaned into Google AdSense on the website. That, plus cheaper bulk SMS rates from telecoms, flipped the script. By May 2009, they hit cashflow positive; full profitability followed in 2010. User numbers soared—10 million by 2010, climbing higher later. Peak seasons like festivals or New Year meant the team worked round-the-clock to handle the flood of messages without crashes.
By 2011–2012, Way2SMS was at its height: millions of users across India, especially in smaller towns, and even an acquisition attempt (ValueFirst bought it in 2012 for a reported ~₹200 crore, but disputes led to an out-of-court reversal in 2013, returning control to Raju).
Then came the smartphone wave. WhatsApp arrived, offering free messaging over data, with stickers, groups, and no character limits. Telecom plans got cheaper, internet spread. SMS demand tanked—not just for Way2SMS, but industry-wide. The free SMS feature eventually faded as the world moved on.
But Raju didn't give up. He pivoted the company to something new: Way2News, launched around 2015–2016. Today, it's a leading hyperlocal vernacular news app, delivering short, relevant stories in regional languages to millions in Bharat. Using AI for curation and personalization, it serves bite-sized news from local areas—exactly the kind of quick, useful content people now crave on mobile.
From bootstrapped struggles in a Hyderabad flat to building a news platform with strong revenue (reports show healthy growth in recent years), Raju's story is a reminder of resilience in India's startup world. Way2SMS may be a memory now, but it sparked free digital communication for millions—and evolved into something still very much alive in 2026. Nostalgia hits different when you realize how far we've come.
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