Ola signs up 10,000 drivers in London as it prepares launch

Indian taxi firm Ola has signed-on 10,000 drivers as it prepares to launch in London and compete against Uber.

Ola announced its entrance into the London market back in November, just days after city authorities revealed that they would not be renewing Uber’s licence to operate in the UK capital.

Uber meanwhile had continued to operate in London while under appeal.

Ola, which claims to be one of the world’s biggest ride-hailing companies and has operations in over 250 cities across India, UK, Australia and New Zealand, had not yet announced its exact launch date.

According to CNBC, the launch might occur in mid-January 2020. Another source told the same broadcaster that the company could choose to go for a soft launch in December followed by a full roll-out in January.

Ola also said that drivers on its platform would pay no commission to Ola for two months and could keep all their earnings.

Head of International at Ola, Simon Smith, said in a statement Tuesday that there had been 10,000 sign-ups over a three-week period and that they had mostly been “through referrals and word of mouth."