Just eight months after its launch Kim Dotcom's Mega has established itself as one of the dominant players in the secure file-storage business. The site has now earned a spot among the top 1,000 most-visited websites on the Internet, overtaking its direct competitor RapidShare. Kim Dotcom says that Mega is already 50% of Megaupload in terms of the number of files stored, and that's just the beginning.

On January 20, a year after Megaupload was raided, Kim Dotcom launched his new file-storage service, Mega.

The site’s membership grew from zero to more than a million in a matter of days, and in the months that followed the site continued to expand its user base.

This month Mega has overtaken RapidShare, one of its direct competitors in the file-hosting business. The graph below shows that Mega has also gained a spot on Alexa’s list of 1,000 most-visited websites on the Internet while the troubled RapidShare’s traffic has dwindled.

Like Mega, RapidShare is currently marketing itself as a personal file-storage solution. However, due to legal troubles the latter has put tough restrictions on the amount of content people are allowed to share in public. RapidShare changed its look and subscription plans once again this month but it seems unlikely that this will stop the site’s downfall.

Talking to TorrentFreak, Kim Dotcom says that privacy features, generous free storage options and high transfer speeds have been the basis for Mega’s continuous growth.

“In just eight months we grew Mega into a top 1,000 site. Users love our privacy features, ease of use, plus generous freemium and transfer speeds. We grow faster every week and are constantly investing to satisfy capacity demands,” Dotcom says.

The Mega team is only just getting started though. Based on user feedback they will soon roll out several new apps, as well as new encryption tools that will allow people to get the NSA off their backs, as far as that’s possible.

These efforts have paid off in terms of new users, and this week the company won an Australian & New Zealand Internet Award in the privacy category.

“Mega will shortly release its iOS app and synching software. Mega is winning awards for our unbroken security and privacy but we want more: Encrypted messaging, voice & video calling and email. I won’t be satisfied until the NSA is drowning in useless data salad,” Dotcom tells us.

While Mega still has some work to do before it reaches the size of the defunct Megaupload, it’s on the right path.

Dotcom says that the site is already pushing one fifth of the bandwidth Megaupload was generating at its peak, and the number of files stored on Mega is at 50% of Megaupload.

“Mega is now 20% of the size of Megaupload in terms of bandwidth utilization and already over 50% in terms of files stored. We are now pushing 1.5 times more bandwidth than the entire country of New Zealand and we are the largest outbound traffic customer of Telecom NZ.”

While Mega has been a success story so far, the New Zealand entrepreneur decided to resign as company director earlier this month to free up time for other projects. Among other things Dotcom is working on a new political party and his music service Baboom which will launch next year.

That said, not a day goes by without the Mega founder inquiring about Mega’s progress, which is in the safe hands of Mega’s management team and developers. Eventually, he hopes that Mega can become the giant Megaupload was in the past by doing that he does best – pleasing Internet users.

“Make no mistake, I care deeply about Mega and I intend to make it another top 100 site. I care about the happiness and privacy of our users. The Internet made me who I am and my gratitude is reflected in my products.”

“Let’s encrypt the Internet,” he adds.