Despite still being only in a test phase in India, mobile payments via Facebook’s WhatsApp instant messaging platform will launch in more markets this year, according to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Speaking during a keynote address at Facebook’s annual developer conference F8, Zuckerberg said payments offered the company one of the biggest opportunities to simplify the customer experience.

“This is a part of the vision that I’m particularly excited about,” he said.

“Payments is one of the areas where we have an opportunity to make it a lot easier. I believe it should be as easy to send money to someone as it is to send a photo.”

The service has been on test in India since February last year with about a million people now using the service, Zuckerberg confirmed.

“It is being used a lot and the feedback so far is great,” he told conference delegates.

International expansion will now take place, he revealed: “We are already working on rolling this out in a number of other countries later this year.

However, expansion plans and greater detail on the service won’t be revealed until later, he said.

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