夜雨聆风
By Rachel Wu
China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom have recently rolled out or tested Token packages, giving users paid access to AI computing quotas through monthly plans, flexible add-ons, and telecom billing.
In simple terms, a token is the basic unit an AI model uses to process information.
China’s National Data Bureau has defined the Chinese term as “词元,” while reports note that 1,000 tokens roughly equal 500 to 700 Chinese characters in common usage.
READ MORE: China Coins New Term for AI 'Token': 词元 or 'Cí Yuán'
For users, the bigger point is: AI is moving closer to the phone bill.
Instead of sitting only behind standalone PC or mobile app subscriptions, AI computing power is now being packaged into telecom services people already use and pay for every month.
Image via 21st Century Economic Report
China Telecom has launched trial commercial Token Plans starting from RMB9.9 per month for 10 million tokens, while China Mobile and China Unicom have also introduced regional or platform-based token packages.
Token Packages at a Glance
| China Telecom | 10 million tokens | RMB9.9/month | Personal & family light plan; trial commercial package |
| China Telecom | 40 million tokens | RMB29.9/month | Personal & family standard plan; for more regular AI use |
| China Telecom | 80 million tokens | RMB49.9/month | Personal & family premium plan; highest reported personal tier |
| China Telecom | 15 million tokens | RMB39.9/month | Developers / small business users; basic plan |
| China Telecom | 70 million tokens | RMB159.9/month | Developers / small business users; professional plan |
| China Telecom | 150 million tokens | RMB299.9/month | Developers / small business users; flagship plan |
| China Mobile | 400,000 tokens | RMB1 | Shanghai flexible add-on model; phone bill payment support reported |
| China Unicom | 30 million tokens | Free trial quota reported | Shanghai OPC users; trial quota for selected users |
| China Unicom | Varies by package | From RMB1 per million tokens reported for renewal | Shanghai / enterprise users; covers computing power, models, and AI agents |
NOTE:Packages are still being rolled out by region and platform. Pricing, quota, model access, payment method, and validity period may vary by city, operator app, and user type.
Still Early, Still Messy
Image via Pexels
The idea is simple, but the experience may not be.
Token consumption can be hard to estimate.
A short prompt may use very little, while long documents, coding tasks, visual generation, or agent workflows can burn through quotas much faster.
The current packages also vary widely by operator, city, model, and user type.
There are also practical questions around privacy, model quality, compatibility, and how clearly operators explain what users are actually buying.
Having said that, the direction is worth watching.
China’s reported daily token usage has already grown sharply, with National Data Bureau figures cited by domestic media saying average daily token calls had passed 140 trillion by March 2026, up more than 1,000 times from early 2024.
The mobile internet once moved from novelty to habit.
AI may now be entering a similar phase, not through one dramatic launch, but through a small new line on the monthly bill.
Image via Pexels
[Cover image via Pexels]
▼For more news, click ‘Read more’ (阅读原文) below.
