MobileMonday Global

^{A Pre-paid plan for every need and wallet} Chinese operators come out with designer plans

Gao Xiaonan

Chinese mobile phone operators are introducing new, designer plans for the market. The broad service plans are being substituted by narrower, more targeted plans. They vary by target groups and voice and text usage, but also by city and operator.

With so many plans to choose from, users have a hard time figuring out which one is the most appropriate. Generally speaking, students use text messages more often, so they tend to choose a plan which includes a substantial number of messages without an extra charge. Plans with cheap voice minutes target working people.

The cost of most common pre-paid service types is quite affordable even with Chinese wages. The rock bottom pre-paid service costs 50 Yuan or EUR 5. For most people a plan which costs a few hundred Yuan per month is enough for everyday use. You can spend the same amount dining out once at a restaurant. The most expensive plan can cost ten fold.

M-zone wants to be a tech leader

China Mobile’s M-zone service is custom-designed for the youth, particularly for students. M-zone is a service that consists of a basic service and some content. It is marketed as a mark of fashion, with the best animation and enjoyment of life.

The service provider is constantly looking for attractive new options so the offering is changing all the time.

THE M-zone plan comes in two parts: The basic charge includes incoming number id (3¥/month), ringtone (3¥/month) and a choice of text message volume (10¥ for 150 pieces; 20¥ for 360; 30¥ for 600; 50¥ for 1000).

Alternate-choices include an extra order of text messages (6¥ for 150 SMS’s); discount off-hours voice service (between 9 pm to 8 am at the price of 0.1/minute with a payment of 2¥ every month); free chatting (free talk with a certain number between 9pm to 8am with A 3¥ payment every month.), etc. M-zone also charges 0.2¥/ per minute to make local calls and offers free answering service calls in the local service area.

GoTone of China Mobile is a plan mainly for business people. It has a comparatively low charge for long distance calls.

China Unicom’s Worldwind is a brand new service enabling users to switch freely between CDMA and GSM networks with a dual-mode handset.

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