Tencent enables users to pay utility bills through WeChat

Users of Tencent’s WeChat platform can now use it to pay their utility bills as the mainland web giant seeks to expand in the mobile payment market.

The service is being offered in cooperation with Shanghai Fufeitong Information Technology, a company that enables residents to pay utility bills online. A Tencent spokeswoman said users of WeChat, known as Weixin on the mainland, who followed Fufeitong’s official account could check and pay their utility bills without leaving the app.

Fufeitong said a trial version launched earlier this month attracted more than 11,000 subscribers and processed more than 1,000 payments. The service, which handles payments worth around 10 billion yuan a year according to the Shanghai Daily, halted a five-year deal with Alibaba’s Alipay online payment platform in July.

Alipay, which controls almost half of the mainland’s online transaction market, primarily by way of e-commerce platforms Taobao and Tmall, has faced increasing competition from Tencent in the mobile sphere in recent months.