Key Takeaways:
China Mobile's new Token Office puts AI monetization above traditional telecom operations in the company's hierarchy.
China Mobile Ltd. elevated its AI token operations above its computing power unit with a new Token Office, as Chinese telecom operators pivot from connection-driven growth to intelligence-driven revenue models.
"AI is profoundly reshaping all aspects of human production and daily life, and telecom operators must reconstruct their service models and network architecture," Chen Zhongyue, chairman of China Mobile, said.
The Token Office, established after the Digital Intelligence Business Unit and Computing Power Office, is tasked with streamlining the full process of "creating tokens, transmitting tokens and applying tokens," according to a report by National Business Daily. The unit sits at a higher organizational level than the computing power office and is directly led by core group management, with the general manager of the Strategic Development Department serving as executive deputy director. The office will oversee the MobileClaw intelligent framework and the MoMA model platform, which aggregates more than 300 mainstream AI models.
The reorganization comes as Goldman Sachs downgraded China Telecom Corp., China Unicom Ltd. and China Tower Corp. to Sell, citing weak 5G base station build-out and uncertainty over whether AI token plans can lift average revenue per user. China Mobile shares fell 1.2 percent on Monday, with short selling accounting for 21.4 percent of turnover.
Telecom Peers Follow the Token Path
China Telecom Chairman Ke Ruiwen said the value of the cloud-network broadband industry is shifting from "traffic operations" to "token operations," from connection-driven growth to intelligence-driven growth, and from cybersecurity to system security. The comments align three of China's four major telecom operators behind a common strategic direction.
The Token Office structure breaks a previous management model where computing power, cloud, AI and marketing functions operated independently across separate departments. By consolidating these under a single unit, China Mobile aims to accelerate the commercial deployment of AI computing network infrastructure and model applications, according to people familiar with the matter.
Investment Implications
For investors, the pivot introduces both opportunity and risk. AI token-based revenue could lift average revenue per user across China's telecom sector, which has struggled to monetize 5G infrastructure investments. But Goldman's downgrade of three sector peers suggests the payoff timeline remains uncertain. China Mobile trades at roughly 10 times forward earnings, a discount to global telecom peers, reflecting the market's skepticism about the speed of the AI revenue transition.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
