Overview
- The three big carriers — China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom — issued a joint notice on July 31 that took effect August 1 and stopped third-party internet sales of SIM and phone-number cards.
- WeChat followed on August 3 by banning non‑operator accounts from handling SIM sales, removing the phone‑card mini‑program category and giving affected accounts until August 11 to remove or disable related content.
- E‑commerce platforms quickly delisted many low‑price large‑data packages that had been sold through third‑party channels, reducing the availability of those deals to consumers.
- China Broadc. cards remained active on marketplaces and saw higher demand while the company launched a new 5G pay‑as‑you‑go plan called 随心享 1.0 with a 39 RMB minimum monthly charge, but agents report its ultra‑low promotional prices are being raised.
- The shift centralizes sales where operators can control identity verification and compliance, which could push market prices toward parity, limit low‑cost options for consumers, and make platform enforcement and Broadc.'s pricing the key things to watch next.