Chinese chat app owner Tencent Holdings have reiterated its WeChat services will remain free after a Chinese minister pointed to possibilities of pressure by telecoms to charge for similar applications.
HumanIPO reported in February on the launch of WeChat services in South Africa, when the services’ country consultant Brett Loubser told HumanIPO he believed their prospects in the country were “excellent”.
Liu Chiping, chief executive at Tencent, told China National Radio yesterday (Sunday) the company does not plan on implementing a charge on the current free chat messages.
The announcement follows a statement by Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology in China, which raised the issue of the data intensity of Tencent’s services.
Wei felt consequential pressure from operators to enforce payment for services such as WeChat were imminent, provoking a negative reaction from the public.
Approximately 71 per cent of 3,000 survey respondents indicated they would not pay for WeChat if the application ceased to be accessible without charge, Reuters reported.
Tencent responded further, revealing plans of further expansion abroad to increase its user count.
WeChat, a product of the largest social networking and gaming company in China, faces other international competitors such as WhatsApp and local African networks such as Mxit and 2go.
WhatsApp recently launched in Nigeria, while Mxit confirmed its status as the leading social chat app in South Africa last month.
African social chat app 2go collaborated with iROKING earlier this year to make music available to its users.
