Kim Dotcom (Photo : Reuters)
Online storage locker Mega launched on Thursday its new web-based communication app dubbed "MegaChat," which is aimed to be a competitor of Microsoft's Skype.
Kim Dotcom, the founder of Mega, told CNET that the MegaChat will have an encryption feature for both audio and video communication.
The communication app was first introduced in 2014. It will prove to be controversial as there is an ongoing legal battle regarding encryption of online data and whether the U.S. government may have access to it.
Encryption became popular after Edward Snowden, a former contractor from the National Security Agency (NSA), leaked information that the government agency was monitoring private data from citizens.
Kim Dotcom estimates that the number of registered users from Mega will "elevate" up to more than 100 million before 2015 ends, The Register reported.
The Mega founder tweeted yesterday the beta launch of the MegaChat app. It will initially feature video calling first before moving on to video conferencing and text chat.
Interested users will need to sign up on the Mega website and log in to access the Conversations feature of the site, where they can make calls free of charge. Dotcom lauded the launch of MegaChat, confirming that there were around 500,000 calls made within the first few hours.
Kim Schmitz, the real name of Kim Dotcom, became famous after launching Megaupload, a well-known online file-hosting service. He was arrested in New Zealand in 2012 after the United States filed a charge against him for copyright infringement as Megaupload stored pirated music, movies, games and other content.
