- China’s three major telecom operators, including China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom, have become the first in the world to roll out AI packages charged by the token, similar to traditional mobile data plans.
- According to the National Data Administration of China, the average daily consumption of AI tokens has surged from around 100 billion at the beginning of 2024 to over 140 trillion by March 2026.
- China Telecom has deployed this nationwide, while China Mobile and China Unicom are expanding region by region.
- China Mobile built the MoMA platform, which provides access to around 300 AI models through a unified token management layer.
- China Telecom operates the TokenHub platform, while China Unicom developed its own token service platform to manage, track, and commercialize AI.
- The price list shows that China Telecom offers the lowest retail price, ranging from 0.09 to 0.14 USD per million tokens, and enterprise prices from 0.28 to 0.37 USD per million tokens. The supported AI ecosystem includes Xingchen, DeepSeek, and GLM.
- China Mobile provides retail prices from 0.28 to 0.35 USD per million tokens, which is higher than China Telecom, but includes access to an ecosystem of around 300 AI models through an alliance with Tencent and other partners.
- China Unicom offers retail prices from 0.17 to 0.35 USD per million tokens, while enterprise packages range from 0 to 2.75 USD per million tokens via the UniCloud platform.
- For individual users, token packages grant access to AI at a significantly lower cost compared to purchasing directly from model providers.
- For enterprises and SMEs, price is not the main advantage; the value lies in the ability to access multiple AI models on a single platform, unified billing, and reduced integration costs.
- GSMA Intelligence notes that the token is not just a new billing unit but also a tool helping operators monetize AI infrastructure, data centers, cloud computing, and edge computing.
- Experts believe that operators owning AI inference infrastructure will benefit the most, while entities that merely resell AI services risk receiving very limited value.
- 📌 Conclusion: The GSMA Intelligence report shows that China is leading the AI commercialization race with a token-selling model similar to mobile data. AI demand has boomed as daily token consumption skyrocketed from 100 billion to over 140 trillion between 2024 and 2026. China Telecom is leading on price at just 0.09 USD per million tokens, while China Mobile stands out with an ecosystem of around 300 AI models. This trend not only opens up a new revenue stream for operators but also creates a direct bridge between AI demand and investments in computing infrastructure, cloud, and data centers.
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