Closer Look: Why Tencent Should Not Have to Pay for WeChat

China's largest Internet company, Tencent Holdings Ltd., is facing trouble: telecom operators and the government are mulling charging its popular free messaging service, WeChat.

The privately owned Tencent launched WeChat, the mobile text and voice messaging application, in January 2011, and it now has more than 300 million users. The rapid growth has triggered concern among the Big Three telecoms operators because the free data service is eroding their market for traditional voice and text message business.