Online voice services can be very profitable: Hike chief Mittal

Hike Messenger, the new kid on the block for messaging and VoIP services, feels such services can open a new ''fat revenue stream'' for the full-fledged mobile operators.

Hike is headed by Kavin Bharti Mittal, son of Sunil Bharti Mittal, who controls India's biggest telecom firm Bharti Airtel. It is a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Japan's Softbank Corp.

Bharti Airtel itself has been one of the most vocal critics of those offering free voice-over-internet calls and other such services, known in telecom parlance as 'over the top' (OTT) players.

''We believe that it's not as big a threat as the market is making it out to be,'' Mittal told PTI in an interview.

''We believe that even if, let's say voice minutes are cannibalised, if that happens, you are getting people to buy data packs, so you are opening up a brand new very fat revenue stream and to me that's a win-win in long term,'' he said.

Hike has announced the launch of free voice calling feature on its platform at a time when mobile operators are demanding that OTT players like Hike, WhatsApp, Line, and Skype among others should be brought under regulation.

OTT players use VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, to let their users make free calls. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has begun a pre-consultation process regarding OTT and is likely to come out with a draft paper soon.

Bharti Airtel recently proposed to charge extra for voice calls made over the internet using applications like Skype, Viber and Hike, but it later dropped the plans following an outcry on social media.

Mittal said that globally also, where there are 4G networks and high-end 3G networks, people are still buying voice minutes.

''Talks of cannibalisation happened during messaging too and look where it has come, it's not really had a big impact, so we believe that same thing will happen for voice.

''We believe that for services like Hike and YouTube and so forth, people actually buy data plans. If we did not exist, people would not buy data. So, on one hand we are driving a new source of revenue for telcos,'' he said.

The data growth for telecom operators is close to 100 per cent a year and now it contributes to double digit percentage in topline revenues. Kavin said with the launch of voice calls on Hike, in the first 12 hours, over half a million calls were being made.

The company has optimised the technology for Hike and people can make 4-5 minutes of calling per MB on 2G.

''2G voice quality is comparable to what you get in telecom network and 3G and wi-fi quality is much better than what you normally get on a telecom network. So, you can say that 3G and wi-fi is like HD calling and 2G as normal calling,'' he said.

The introduction of voice calls has come within a month of Hike making it's first acquisition – a free calling app Zip Phone (See: Hike acquires voice calling company Zip Phone).

The free voice calling feature has been launched in beta on Android, which contributes to over 90 per cent of its user base whereas the iOS and Windows versions are slated to release by the end of this quarter.

The Hike founder said, ''Our target is to become the company with 100 million users by early to mid next year, we believe voice calling as a feature will help us get that milestone faster.''

Launched in December 2012, hike has over 35 million users and has raised $86 million from Tiger Global and BSB till date.

Competing with global players like WhatsApp, Line and Viber, Hike has a fairly young user base with over 90 per cent of them under the age of 25, and in India (WhatsApp launches pilot scheme for free voice services).