Google has been linked with a big money acquisition of WhatsApp, Digital Spy said.

The web giant could pay as much as $1 billion for the popular messaging service, according to Digital Trends.

The news follows reports that Google is working on its own cross-platform messenger application dubbed Babel, fuelling rumours that WhatsApp technology could power the new venture.

WhatsApp is a free messaging service for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian and Windows Phone devices, and boasts around 100 million users per day across 250 countries.

Facebook is rumoured to have held acquisition talks with the software's creators late last year, but nothing ever materialised from these purported meetings.

Last month, WhatsApp confirmed plans to charge iOS users an annual subscription fee in a move that will bring it in line with other platforms.