<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div><blockquote>Analyzing how the three major telecom operators are shifting from selling data traffic to selling computing power, vying for new infrastructure entry points in the AI ​​era, against the backdrop of their Token packages.</blockquote>Author: Li Hailun, Tencent TechnologyTelecom operators are getting into the Token business. But Tokens are not data traffic, and they're not so easy to sell yet.Recently, China's three major telecom operators have successively launched Token packages. China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom have successively launched Token packages and related AI services, selling large-scale model calls to individuals, families, developers, and SMEs.Although these packages are still in the early promotion stage, they have quickly become a new narrative attracting attention in the capital market. On May 18th, the stock prices of the three major telecom operators all rose, with China Telecom leading the gains, briefly hitting the daily limit before closing up 7.74%. The three major operators' concentrated launch of token-based products reflects a shift in their identity, and token packages are just one aspect of this transformation on the user side. Over the past few decades, every change in the operators' business has often been accompanied by a change in billing units. The way ordinary people understand communication services has undergone several subtle shifts in units and overlapping roles. First, there was billing by the minute. Users knew exactly how much a call would cost. Later, billing shifted to data-based pricing. Watching videos, browsing websites, and sending WeChat messages consumed countless gigabytes of data. For a long time, operators' business revolved around voice calls, SMS messages, and data. Then, a new billing unit began to be added to operators' plans: Tokens. Each change in billing units often corresponds to a change in the role of infrastructure. In the era of minute-based billing, operators were providers of communication networks; in the era of data-based billing, operators were carriers of mobile internet gateways. Now that Tokens are entering the plans, operators are attempting to shift their role from &#34;connectivity service provider&#34; to &#34;AI computing power gateway.&#34; Just as the power grid delivered electricity from power plants to homes, telecom operators are attempting to transform the computing power in their smart computing centers into a public resource, like water and electricity, that can be purchased monthly and consumed according to usage, through subscription packages and billing systems. However, to understand this round of operators selling tokens, besides looking at the package prices themselves, it's crucial to pay attention to the underlying infrastructure logic and whether it can truly be understood and accepted by the market. <img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473941_image3.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="600" height="335" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473941_image3.png"/><h2>The real challenges begin after the Token packages are launched</h2>Currently, the Token packages offered by operators do not have the complex pricing of model vendor APIs, which break down inputs, outputs, and cache hits. Instead, they are packaged into a single monthly allowance, with simple and clear classifications: how much it costs per month, how many Tokens it includes, and which models it supports.<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473941_image3.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="600" height="335" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473941_image3.png"/><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473942_image3.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="600" height="1126" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://img.jinse.com.cn/7473942_image3.png"/>When computing power truly transforms from a backend resource into a frontend commodity, major operators face a common question: Can users truly understand Token plans in the same way they understand data traffic? There are many hurdles involved.“The Token plans seem dazzling now, but I actually have no concept of how to use Tokens,” one user said.</div></div></div>

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China's three major telecom operators are transitioning from data traffic sales to offering Token packages and AI services, aiming to become AI computing power gateways. Despite a rise in stock prices following the launch, the market acceptance of these Token plans remains uncertain, as users struggle to understand their value compared to traditional data services.

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The three major telecom operators have found a new narrative, but the tokens aren't selling so well.