Indian ride-sharing major Ola on Thursday announced that it has begun offering free rides in Australia's Melbourne city as a soft launch of its services with local driver-partners.

"Customers in Melbourne city can download Ola application, register for an account and book their rides," the city-based online cab aggregator said in a statement here. The company, however, did not specify how many free rides the passengers can avail, and up to what distance, in Melbourne.

On January 30, Ola announced its foray into the international market to rival US-based Uber. It began its operations in Australia in February starting with Perth and later in Sydney.

"Over the coming months, the rollout of operations in Australia will continue with cities like Brisbane, Gold Coast, Canberra, Adelaide, Darwin and Hobart," the statement said.

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Over 15,000 registrations from local driver-partners across Australia have been received so far, it added. "With a low 7.5 per cent introductory commission rate, driver-partners can earn more money and access it easily."

Founded in 2011, Ola has been competing against Uber in the Indian ride-hailing market. Ola claims to have 125 million users in 110 cities across the country. IANS