Telcos and the AI token economy: what could go wrong?

Last month, China’s three major telecoms operators became the first to launch token-based AI plans, packaging AI usage in a way that resembles traditional mobile data bundles, signalling a broader push by operators to commercialise AI, cloud and compute capabilities. This reflects growing interest among operators in monetising AI by moving beyond internal AI efficiencies and towards commercial AI opportunities. The logic is simple – tap the surging interest in AI and put a meter on it – but the concept goes beyond just offering tokens for cash.

By investing in AI factories, telecoms operators can leverage their infrastructure, traffic, customer base and regulatory positioning to capture a meaningful share of the expanding AI and cloud revenue pool. Scenario analysis suggests AI factories could deliver an incremental uplift of 1.5–6.0% to total operator revenues, depending on execution and market share capture. This represents a meaningful growth lever in an otherwise mature industry.

This latest edition of the GSMA Open Gateway research series provides an update on the state of the market, recent developments and examples of Open Gateway in action. The market is increasingly moving away from operator-specific API exposure and towards platform-mediated distribution, where developers prefer a single integration point with global reach. This changes the commercial dynamic for the ecosystem.