Tencent WeChat opens up payment service

Internet giant Tencent Holdings has fully opened the online payment service of its popular WeChat instant messaging app to all business vendors, it said in a statement sent to the Global Times Wednesday.

The business vendors need to make a deposit of 20,000 yuan ($3,268) for their accounts with WeChat to enjoy such online transactions, and Tencent will charge a service fee of 0.6 percent for each transaction, according to a report by information portal caijing.com.cn.

China Unicom, the country's second-largest telecom operator in terms of subscribers, said Wednesday that its 200 brick-and-mortar sales outlets would adopt WeChat's online payment service.