Monopolies curb innovation by adding fees

In response to grumbles from China’s monopolistic telecom operators, the country’s industry regulator said last weekend it is possible that the operators will be allowed to impose fees on WeChat for signaling channel usage.

The move has caused quite a stir, with the vast majority of Chinese mobile Internet users, who enjoy using this free, user-friendly chat app developed by Chinese Internet giant Tencent, coming out in strong opposition. After all, they believe charges on app providers will inevitably be passed on to consumers.