 "Any OTT regulation will stifle innovation: Kavin Mittal")
Kavin Mittal, son of Bharti Enterprises' chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, is betting highly on Hike Direct, a service which would allow users to chat and share files without any internet. In an interview with Mansi Taneja, he talks about raising fresh funds and appropriate regulation. Edited excerpts:
How did the idea of Hike Direct happen?
We did research for about a year and realised people are sensitive to data prices. Also, at times, infrastructure is a big issue. Hike Direct will address these issues and revolutionalise the market. This could also become an entry point for many to get on to the internet. We have about 10,000 users on Hike Direct in the past two months and feedback has been positive.
There is talk of regulation on OTT (over-the-top, delivery of media over the internet without involving a multiple system operator) players. Your views?
We have been adding a new feature every 7.5 days to Hike Messenger. If there was any regulation, we would not have been able to do that.
The best part of the internet is that it is not regulated. Why do people buy data packs? It's mainly for using messaging apps and Facebook. There is no need for any regulation on OTT players; it will stifle their growth.
Telecom operators, including (your father's) Bharti Airtel, have been demanding some regulation. They say OTT players are eating into their revenue.
We (OTT operators) are responsible for generating data revenues. If we shut shop tomorrow, nobody will buy data packs. Let's reverse the question to telecom companies.
Since we are driving data growth, why don't they give 10 per cent of their revenues to us? It's weird both ways, which is why there is no need for any regulation to foster innovations in the sector.
Coming back to Hike, which are your biggest markets and what is your target for reaching 100 million users?
Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and Jaipur are the top four markets. The interesting point is that most of the growth is coming from tier-II and tier-III towns. With the launch of Hike Direct, we expect the number of users to go up significantly. We aim to touch 100 million by the end of next year.
We also working on a feature where one user would be able to send files through Hike Direct to multiple connections and not only one. This should be up and running in the next six months. Even the radius of 100 metres will be expanded further but that would take time.
What are the plans for raising fresh funds? Are you open to funding from new investors and what is the monetisation plan?
We got $65 million funding from SoftBank and Tiger last year and we still have some funds. We will look to raise more in the next six to 12 months. Existing shareholders would like to invest more but we are open to others as well. It depends on what value they will bring to the team.
On monetisation, the revenue model is the easier part. Building a product is difficult. When we will have 100 million happy customers, we will start building our revenue model. It's a three to five years game. It could be a transaction model or an advertisement one.
How did the idea of Hike Direct happen?
We did research for about a year and realised people are sensitive to data prices. Also, at times, infrastructure is a big issue. Hike Direct will address these issues and revolutionalise the market. This could also become an entry point for many to get on to the internet. We have about 10,000 users on Hike Direct in the past two months and feedback has been positive.
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It uses Wi-Fi Direct technology systems that help establish peer to peer network connection between two phones. It will allow our users to chat and share files without internet and data charges within a radius of 100 metres, and with a speed of 40 Mbit/sec. Currently, it will be available on the Android platform and will be launched for iOS/Windows next year.
There is talk of regulation on OTT (over-the-top, delivery of media over the internet without involving a multiple system operator) players. Your views?
We have been adding a new feature every 7.5 days to Hike Messenger. If there was any regulation, we would not have been able to do that.
The best part of the internet is that it is not regulated. Why do people buy data packs? It's mainly for using messaging apps and Facebook. There is no need for any regulation on OTT players; it will stifle their growth.
Telecom operators, including (your father's) Bharti Airtel, have been demanding some regulation. They say OTT players are eating into their revenue.
We (OTT operators) are responsible for generating data revenues. If we shut shop tomorrow, nobody will buy data packs. Let's reverse the question to telecom companies.
Since we are driving data growth, why don't they give 10 per cent of their revenues to us? It's weird both ways, which is why there is no need for any regulation to foster innovations in the sector.
Coming back to Hike, which are your biggest markets and what is your target for reaching 100 million users?
Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat and Jaipur are the top four markets. The interesting point is that most of the growth is coming from tier-II and tier-III towns. With the launch of Hike Direct, we expect the number of users to go up significantly. We aim to touch 100 million by the end of next year.
We also working on a feature where one user would be able to send files through Hike Direct to multiple connections and not only one. This should be up and running in the next six months. Even the radius of 100 metres will be expanded further but that would take time.
What are the plans for raising fresh funds? Are you open to funding from new investors and what is the monetisation plan?
We got $65 million funding from SoftBank and Tiger last year and we still have some funds. We will look to raise more in the next six to 12 months. Existing shareholders would like to invest more but we are open to others as well. It depends on what value they will bring to the team.
On monetisation, the revenue model is the easier part. Building a product is difficult. When we will have 100 million happy customers, we will start building our revenue model. It's a three to five years game. It could be a transaction model or an advertisement one.