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Less than a month after it acquired free voice-calling application Zip Phone, the Kavin Bharti Mittal-led Hike Messenger on Wednesday said it had launched free calling on its app over 2G, 3G and wi-fi across 200 countries. The service is currently available on Android operating system, which accounts for nearly 90 per cent of Hike’s userbase.
The company plans to launch free calling for iPhone and Windows phones by March. “Hike calls are optimised to consume very little data, giving its users more calling minutes per MB of data. A majority of the mobile-internet users of India are still experimenting with data and are not on a high-bandwidth connection, this optimisation becomes critical for the market,” the company said.
At the time of announcement of the acquisition of the US-based company, Hike's Founder and Chief Executive Officer Kavin Bharti Mittal had said that the company would be able to add free voice-calling, which has been one of the most requested features, more quickly.
The acquisition by Hike, which is run by Bharti Enterprises Group Chief Executive Sunil Mittal’s son, was seen as a significant one because it came within weeks after Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti Airtel, India's largest telecom service provider, announced its plan to charge different data rates for voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services used by applications like Skype.
This was seen as violating the concept of net-neutrality and the company stalled the plan amid reports the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) might issue a consultation paper on over-the-top (OTT) companies.
OTT companies are those that deliver audio, video and other media over the internet without involving a multiple-system operator in control or distribution of content. Through the launch of the calling facility, Kavin Mittal has expanded his portfolio in the OTT space, even as the company led by his father, despite having its own VoIP service in AirtelTalk and other OTT services like music app Wynk, is batting for differential pricing for such applications.
Launched in December 2012, Hike had over 35 million users in August, 2014. The startup is backed by Tiger Global and Bharti SoftBank, having raised $86 million as of now. Over 90 per cent of Hike's users are under the age of 25 and residing in India.
“While building free hike calls, we kept two things in mind. Firstly, India is a very cost sensitive market and as a result we've ensured that our service is extremely efficient on data. It means our users can pack in more minutes per MB when calling on hike,” Kavin Bharti Mittal said. “Secondly, we've made Hike's free calling service available globally in over 200 plus countries. Hikers from India can now speak with their loved ones in India and across the world for free.”
