Hike lets users read news,make payments without internet
What's the story
Messaging platform Hike has launched a new service called 'Total' that allows Android users to make online payments, read news, and even send messages, all without using internet.
With Total, users can carry out several tasks including reading news, checking trains' status, reading horoscopes and sports scores, and accessing Hike's in-built digital wallet.
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Tech
Total brings internet to users, but without using data
According to Hike CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal, the company has built a new technology called Universal Transfer Protocol (UTP), claiming it to be the "supercharged version of USSD."
The USSD technology, present on every GSM phone, enables content to be transferred from carriers without data.
With UTP, Hike has added smart compression to USSD, made content transmission reliable, and ensured secure encoding, Mittal said.
Details
Hike thinks big term, partners with mobile companies and carriers
Along with rolling out Total, Hike has partnered with companies like Intex and Karbonn to pre-load the service onto the OS of inexpensive phones.
The first four phones pre-loaded with Total will launch in March across India.
The company has also collaborated with telecom service providers like Airtel to roll out low-cost data packs through Total, starting at Re. 1 for 20 MB data.
Background
Hike world's first company to use UTP tech: CEO
Mittal said that about 200 million smartphone users don't access the web and Hike wants to tap into that market.
The company aims to first make basic services available to such users, and then eventually get them to pay to get online for Hike's full suite of services.
Hike has patented the UTP technology, becoming the world's first company to use it, Mittal added.