Modernizing Consumer Packages with AI and 5G-Advanced

China’s operators are building on their extensive 5G networks with new services enabled by 5G-Advanced. Outside China there are signs of movement too, with operators in the Middle East also starting to roll out 5G-Advanced, and others elsewhere planning their 5G-Advanced initiatives.

The scale of the efforts of Chinese operators is enormous: in the first five months of 2025 alone, they added 235,000 5G base stations — more than the total number of all base stations in many other countries. Overall, there are now 4.5 million 5G base stations in China, representing 35.3% of the total.

5G-Advanced and the services it enables are now the major focus. This is the name the global mobile industry is using to market the second half of the 5G decade. Notably, in China operators are using 5G-Advanced in their marketing communications to end users — it’s not just an industry term. At MWC Shanghai 2025, it was clear the focus of Chinese operators has moved onto the monetization of services that use 5G-Advanced capabilities.

The Scale of 5G-Advanced Network Deployments in China

There are now more than 10 million customers on a 5G-Advanced package in China. Areas of 5G-Advanced network coverage now exist in over 300 cities across more than 30 provinces. In China, operators typically ensure there are three carriers — or spectrum bands — available to connect users’ devices to ensure there’s sufficient capacity to offer high speeds with a responsive experience enabled by low latencies in 5G-Advanced areas.

Such three-carrier aggregation technology is a key part of China’s implementation. This is important because of continuing growth in data traffic. For example, China Mobile reported phone data traffic per user grew 8% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025.

China’s operators are testing the waters and seeing which 5G-Advanced offerings provide competitive advantage, help acquire new customers or raise higher revenue per user. By contrast, operators in other markets worry about gaining enough return on the investment needed to upgrade their non-standalone 5G networks to standalone and to 5G-Advanced. China’s early 5G-Advanced experience provides insights that can help guide global operators in their next steps with 5G technology deployment.

New China Telecom 5G-Advanced Packages

In May 2025, China Telecom unveiled new 5G-Advanced packages in Shaanxi. This is enabled by a roll-out of 5G-Advanced across 5,000 base stations, which cover key areas and busy locations.

The large volumes of included data in the packages, which start at 180 GB, highlights the confidence that China Telecom has in its network to meet users’ needs and the importance of deploying multiple carriers. The packages offer peak speeds of up to 3 Gbps for download and up to 400 Mbps for upload, priced between 199 and 399 yuan ($27 to $55) a month (see Table 1). All the packages include video ringback tones, Tianyi cloud disk, missed call reminders and an anti-harassment service.

Table 1. China Telecom 5G-Advanced packages in the Shaanxi province

Downlink speed (up to)	1 Gbps	2 Gbps	3 Gbps
Uplink speed (up to)	200 Mbps	300 Mbps	400 Mbps
Data	120 GB	180 GB	240 GB
Voice	1,000 minutes	1,500 minutes	2,000 minutes
Satellite connection	10 minutes and 10 texts	20 minutes and 20 texts	30 minutes and 30 texts
Price	199 yuan ($27) per month	299 yuan ($41) per month	399 yuan ($55) per month

Notably, these 5G-Advanced packages also include a non-terrestrial network offering. The tariffs differ in both the number of texts included and, unusually, in the amount of time a device can be connected to a satellite. Although 5G-Advanced can enable superior network performance, it doesn’t address coverage gaps, which is why non-terrestrial network connectivity remains an important additional part of the offering.

Outside China, it’s more common for operators to differentiate package tiers only by the data volume included and leave speed to best efforts — or alternatively, to tier packages based on the maximum speed that’s possible, but with all packages offering unlimited data. However, China Telecom sees the opportunity to differentiate its packages with incremental amounts across multiple features at the same time, including speed, data volume, voice minutes and satellite connectivity.

For 5G users who haven’t opted for a 5G-Advanced package, China Telecom also offers 5G-Advanced add-ons. The cheapest is just 10 yuan a day on a per-use basis. But there are also monthly add-ons, priced at either 20 or 30 yuan a month, for an additional 10 GB or 15 GB of data, and a boost in speed to 2 Gbps and 300 Mbps or 3 Gbps and 400 Mbps, respectively.

China Mobile Expands Its 5G-Advanced Offer with AI and Exclusivity

Having launched its first 5G-Advanced packages in 2024, in May 2025 China Mobile added a series of new exclusive offerings aimed at the mid and high-end part of the market. There are multiple levels of mobile service package, described in a similar way to upmarket credit cards:

• Global Communication Platinum Card — Includes access to an exclusive account manager, has service quality guarantees and offers access to events such as marathons or travel privileges.
• Excellent Diamond Card — This is a premium offer, with access to desirable phone numbers, phone discounts and access to the AI smart assistant Lingxi. All the other packages also have access to Lingxi.
• Internet Age Growth Plan — Includes free card replacement, multiquota monthly packages, AI services and offers on AI hardware. Unusually, the longer the customer has been online, the more rewards they’ll receive, which should improve customer loyalty and retention.
• Mobile Love Family Plan — This package plays on the similar sound for the words “love” and “AI” when pronounced in Chinese. It focuses on family sharing, with a single interface to manage each family member’s card and services. There’s also a data reward of a 1 GB “red envelope” for each family member invited. The other operators are also using this play on words between AI and “love” in their marketing.

AI Is the Focus of China Unicom Too

China Unicom isn’t yet using the 5G-Advanced name in its marketing. Instead, it’s focusing on network quality improvements without explicitly calling out 5G-Advanced. The operator is still looking to innovate, however, and is also developing new AI offerings.

TongTong is an AI smart assistant that combines natural language voice, content aggregation and device support and control. China Unicom has created a smart speaker but also offers the assistant as part of its video service that’s available across devices including TVs. It ties into education, fitness and health offerings to appeal to a wide range of ages, from children to the elderly, as well as acting as a home security interface.

Zain Saudi Arabia Builds Its Home Wireless Offering on a Strong 5G Foundation

Beyond China, the Gulf region is already seeing momentum for 5G-Advanced with Zain Saudi Arabia intending to move to a commercial launch in the fourth quarter of 2025 in Riyadh and Jeddah. Already, Zain has launched 5G standalone, which is enabling a major push with fixed wireless access services. It has tiered offerings for high-end consumers that connect many devices where Zain offers peak download speeds over 300 Mbps enabled by extremely large antenna arrays.

Also, the operator is marketing a 5G RedCap-based service that offers speeds up to 150 Mbps, but with energy consumption that’s 50% lower than conventional 5G customer premises equipment.

Zain’s innovations highlight the role that investments in 5G-Advanced can play in modernizing consumer and business offerings. The operator is seeking competitive advantage from its network investment and using fixed wireless access and services enabled by 5G-Advanced such as RedCap to meet that goal.