Facebook set to become the first 2 billion-user company this year: Report

San Francisco: According to a report in media, social networking site Facebook is all set to become become the first 2 billion-user company this year. The social media major has attributed its "impressive" user growth to "promotional data plans" from countries like India.

Facebook had 1.86 billion monthly active users as of the end of 2016, up from 1.79 billion the previous quarter and 1.59 billion a year earlier, the company said in its fourth quarter earnings report.

Chief Financial Officer David Wehner said Facebook added more users this quarter compared to a year earlier than any quarter since the company went public in 2012.

Wehner attributed the "impressive" user growth to "promotional data plans" from third parties in countries like India as well as Internet.Org, Facebook's free stripped-down Internet offering in developing markets, CNN reported.

Facebook is on track to hit 2 billion users later this year, a major milestone that no other Internet company has reached, said Jan Dawson, chief analyst with Jackdaw Research, a technology research and advisory firm.

"Massive user growth year on year, and amazingly it's accelerating despite the massive existing scale. It's on track to become the first 2 billion-user company later this year," Dawson was quote as saying by 'USA Today'.