OnMobile to foray into online video business

Bengaluru-based IT firm OnMobile plans to foray into the online video business under the brand name OnMo, where it looks to compete with popular web-based platforms.

"Video services and gaming services are the two areas where we have got quite good products. We will be focussing on video and games. We will also be launching a regional portal, covering generally India, Bangladesh, Middle-East for regional video portal," OnMobile President and Chief Operating Officer Sanjay Bhambri told PTI.

The company at present operates across 55 countries. It started off by making software products for mobile phone companies, including ring back tones, and was the first value added services software maker to get listed.

Bhambri said the company is reworking its portfolio to make it more relevant for the present market condition.

He said the video platform will be launched "in a month or two".

OnMobile expects a few telecom operators in India, Bangladesh and Middle East to be its initial customers for the video platform.

"We will be marketing it under our own brand OnMo video so that it will be independent of the telecom operator. Only billing will be dependent on the operator, otherwise it will be an independent platform," Bhambri said.

The company will use internal accruals to fund the service, he said, but declined to give financial details.

"We have internal accruals which will be good enough for us to kick start the service. I think today in our balance sheet we have enough cash to handle (investment)," Bhambri said.

The online video space already has established players like YouTube, Vimeo and Dailymotion. However, Bhambri said there is a lot of scope in content curation.

"Curation plays a large role in most of the services in digital. Our focus is going to be quite niche. We will be expanding our vertical on multiple things. Right now our focus is going to be on four-five regional languages and curate the content," he said.

The company will initially focus on Bengali and South Indian languages to target customers in India, Bangladesh and the Middle East, he said.