微信要收费？

China's popular mobile app may be charging

微信要收费？

Wechat, an instant messaging application on smart phones, has taken China by storm. It was developed by dotcom giant Tencent and now has over 300 million users.

微信中国最大的智能手机即时信息应用软件像暴风一样席卷了整个中国。微信由中国互联网巨头——腾讯公司开发，目前已拥有3亿用户。

That means 7 out of 10 mobile internet users are using it across the country. But its surging popularity has come much to the dismay of China’s telecom operator s.

也就说全国每10位移动互联网用户中就7位在使用微信。然而，针对它的人气飙升，沮丧的是中国电信。

It’s not a walkie-talkie, but a smart phone with an amazingly popular app called Wechat.

微信不是对讲机，只是智能手机上的应用软件，但是它极其受欢迎。

"We can know what’s going on at any time. If someone lags behind, Wechat can help me get in tou ch with them. And there’s no roaming fee. "

“我们可以在任何情况下都知道发生了什么事情。”“如果有些事情滞后了，微信可以帮助我与它们取得联系。”“而且没有漫游费。”

Others dig its video chat function - a great money saver for Chinese students studying overseas.

另外插在中国电信心上的一根刺是违心有视频对话的功能——对在海外求学的人来说可以节省很大一部分开支。

"It’s now very convenient to talk to parents on Wechat. There’s no fees for international calls. And you can talk whenever you want."

“现在用微信与父母通话非常的方便。对国际通话不收取任何额外费用。而且只要你愿意，随时都可以用微信聊天。”

Wechat is free, a major reason for its popularity. But, China’s TELCOs seem to be bearing the cost.

微信如此受欢迎，很大一部分原因是免费。但是，中国电信似乎要承担相应成本。

According to a report by China’s top telecom watchdog, this year, two key cash cows of China’s three telecom carrier s-- short messages and voice calling service s are seeing much slower growth.

电信监管机构报告指出，今年，电信三大收入来源的两项——短信息和语音通话服务的增长要以前慢得多。

And the largest carrier, China Mobile has launch ed its first wave of attack.

最大运营商，中国移动已经像微信发起了第一轮攻击。

Xi Guohua, vice chairman of China Mobile Comm. Corp., said, "There is no doubt that online messaging application s have been riding on the service s provided by traditional telecom carrier s. This mode of operation can’t be sustained if it’s all free. As to the details of a potential payment scheme, we are still doing research on that."

中国移动通信公司副会长奚国华说：“毫无疑问，在线信息应用程序是通过传统通信运营商所提供的服务来运行的。如果一直免费，这种运作模式是不能够持续的。至于潜在的付费计划我们还在进一步讨论中。