If you’re one of many WeChat app users who would rather switch to another VoIP and messaging service than pay to stay on WeChat, you’re not alone.
A new survey from Avanti, a division of the research firm TrendForce, found that 66 percent of WeChat users said they would no longer continue to use the service if it began charging a fee. A quarter of the 2,542 respondents also said they didn’t believe that Tencent Holdings Ltd., the company that created WeChat, would begin charging for the popular app.
The survey was conducted in response to persistent concerns that China’s telecommunication operator, Ministry of Information and Industry Technology (MIIT), would seek to force Tencent to charge for the mobile app at the behest of China Mobile, the world’s largest mobile provider.
China Mobile and WeChat have been butting heads in the region for awhile now, and China Mobile has been stepping up its criticism of Tencent especially recently over the use by WeChat of its network by subscribers without having to pay for the messaging usage. It had wanted MIIT to force users to pay for WeChat and for it to receive some of the resulting revenue lost by users not subscribing to SMS packages. MIIT, however, said it would not get involved in the dispute between China Mobile — which recently relaunched its Feiton app to combat WeChat — and Tencent.
This leaves Tencent to seek additional ways of making money off its WeChat application, including the integration of e-commerce as hinted in early April. Tencent CEO Liu Chiping revealed, however, that the WeChat application would remain free last month.