China’s telecom giants are shifting their business models to capitalize on the artificial intelligence surge by introducing AI token-based pricing plans. China Telecom has launched nationwide packages that cater to a variety of users, from casual consumers to developers and businesses. Consumer plans start at 9.9 yuan per month for 10 million tokens, with options scaling up to 49.9 yuan for 80 million tokens. Business packages are more robust, ranging from 39.9 yuan to 299.9 yuan monthly, with token allowances between 15 million and 250 million. AI tokens serve as the fundamental units that AI models use to process or generate data, similar to how streaming uses megabytes. For instance, while one token accounts for about four characters, processing a high-resolution image can require 200 to over 1,000 tokens. China Telecom is offering these token plans alongside its AI model, TeleChat, and other popular third-party systems, with optional enhancements for network connectivity and cybersecurity.
Are China’s telecom giants shifting from cellular data to AI tokens?
