The new intelligent economy is fundamentally changing the dynamics of the ICT industry, which is transitioning from traditional traffic monetization to token monetization. China Telecom is drawing from its strengths in cloud-network-edge-device integration to forge a unique path for B2B transformation. By re-architecting its service system with AI agents, the carrier is elevating enterprise services from basic network connections to holistic intelligent solutions that seamlessly blend AI, computing power, data, and networks. This shift from selling connectivity to empowering scenarios marks a significant value upgrade.
In this strategic transformation, China Telecom Intelligent Network Technology Co., Ltd. is leading the implementation of the group's strategy of cloud, digital, and intelligent transformation. It has undertaken the research, development, and operation of the e-Surfing Smart Enterprise product, which has grown into a strategic, intensive platform and a benchmark product for the digital transformation of SME and government services.
Insight into industry trends: Tokens as a new value metric in the intelligent economy
For years, bandwidth and network connectivity have been essential for government and enterprise B2B services. As the market saturates, the linear growth model is hitting its ceiling, with marginal revenue declining. Meanwhile, the rapid advancement of large models and AI agents fuels exponential demand for computing power and AI capabilities across industries. Traditional business logic and service models can no longer keep up with intelligent development.
Tokens are gradually replacing traditional traffic, becoming the universal bearer of value circulation and pricing in the intelligent economy. This is a comprehensive business model transformation for the communications industry. Carriers are no longer confined to basic network transmission; instead, they can harness vast computing resources and use standardized tokens to deliver AI capabilities to diverse industries for their digital and intelligent upgrades.
In this context, AI agents are accelerating the transformation of enterprise digital architecture. Digital employees are becoming a new source of productivity. This is expanding networking services from mere connectivity to integrated solutions that combine connection, AI, data, and computing power — capabilities now formally recognized as part of networking services. This sets a clear direction for intelligent infrastructure development and B2B transformation in the communications industry.
Setting the strategic direction: Integrated "AI + connectivity + compute" capabilities
China Telecom has established a three-pronged development strategy with connectivity as the foundation, computing power at the center, and agents as the driving force — aiming to build integrated service capabilities for SMEs and create differentiated competitive barriers.
(1) Transforming the convergence gateway into an intelligent edge hub
The conventional enterprise gateway has been redefined from a simple network access point into an edge core node with on-premise computing power. The government and enterprise convergence gateway combines high-performance networking, a wealth of value-added applications, unified management, and cost-effectiveness — powered by industry-leading software-hardware decoupling, proprietary unified management and control middleware, and support for different hardware specifications and versions.
By deploying lightweight AI agents on the gateway, China Telecom brings edge computing power and security capabilities directly to enterprise premises. This "hardware + intelligence" architecture ensures private data storage at the edge while enabling cloud applications through an open skill ecosystem. It decouples computing power and applications, allowing enterprises to flexibly choose from different implementation modes, including local deployment, device-cloud synergy, or terminal integration.
(2) Meeting diverse customer needs with tiered deployment
China Telecom has developed a tiered capability system to address the diverse data security and computing power needs of SMEs. For small and micro enterprises with no need for local computing power, enhanced gateways are deployed with cloud-based tokens for basic AI applications. For medium-sized enterprises with higher data sensitivity, a combination of high-end gateways and local computing power is offered to enable local token processing and support high-concurrency local inference across multiple roles. An innovative device-cloud synergy architecture has also been developed, running small models locally while calling large models from the cloud to balance costs and capabilities. In addition, AI agents can be deployed on employee terminals, with gateways centrally managing application skills to further automate end-to-end business processes.
(3) Implementing token monetization to reshape the business model
China Telecom packages computing power resources into quantifiable, measurable tokens. Enterprises can consume these tokens on demand to activate a range of AI agent capabilities. This model moves businesses away from the capital-intensive model of "buying hardware and building systems" to an asset-light model of "subscribing to services and calling capabilities on demand", significantly lowering the entry barriers and costs for SME AI adoption.
Upgrading product portfolios: Digital employee system and an open skill ecosystem
Using its overall strategic layout, China Telecom has been innovating in products and services, shifting its business focus from "selling devices and bandwidth" to "building use cases and providing intelligent services". The carrier has established a brand-new product portfolio.
(1) Using digital employees to make AI capabilities tangible
China Telecom packages AI capabilities into "digital employees" that cover every role, offering standardized ICT services to government and enterprise clients across areas like human resources, finance, copywriting, and data analysis. Customers are now purchasing not just networking services but also ready-to-use AI productivity. These tangible products make abstract computing power and AI capabilities intuitive and accessible, significantly improving usability.
(2) Using an open skill ecosystem to expand service value
Built on a standardized and open skill framework, the e-Surfing Smart Enterprise platform integrates third-party applications and turns them into specialized capabilities for digital employees, continuously extending service value. Existing enterprise OA systems, financial software, and industry-specific solutions can swiftly connect to the platform via standard interfaces, creating a development model of "platform enablement + ecosystem co-construction". China Telecom serves enterprise customers with unified interaction portals, all-domain security, and a token metering system, while ecosystem partners supply specific application capabilities.
(3) Driving scale through standardized service packages
China Telecom has launched tiered standard service packages that bundle digital employees, token quotas, and network connectivity. Enterprises can choose tiers based on their bandwidth requirements, the number of digital employees, and token consumption. This straightforward package model eliminates the complexity and slow deployment of traditional custom solutions, making it a key driver for scaling up the business.
Optimizing business implementation: From project customization to standardized services at scale
China Telecom has revolutionized its market operations model, driving B2B services toward standardization, replicability, and scale.
(1) End-to-end standardized delivery for faster deployment
China Telecom has built a fast delivery system with standardized drawings, dedicated tools, and a professional team — based on unified hardware models, construction processes, and cabling standards. Pre-sales solution design has shifted from customization to template-based design, while post-sales O&M is centralized and intelligent through the platform. With remote monitoring, automatic inspections, and intelligent troubleshooting, enterprises can enjoy stable and professional government and enterprise services without dedicated IT staff.
(2) Building a multi-layer security system to strengthen operational security
As AI agents become deeply integrated into core business processes, security capabilities have become a key competitive advantage. China Telecom has leveraged its network-native security strengths to build a full-spectrum security system across five layers: gateway, data, application, interaction, and deployment. It offers services such as network isolation, audit tracing, permission control, and security scanning to ensure the secure and stable operation of digital employees.
(3) Deepening industry applications to replicate benchmark successes at scale
With digital and intelligent transformation teams across the country, China Telecom is building benchmark cases in key industries such as manufacturing, trade, and professional services, while continuously developing reusable and scalable scenario-based solutions. At the same time, it sets up local training and experience centers to promote solutions through experiential marketing methods like on-site demonstrations and live observations. This mitigates market entry challenges and enables the move from single-point benchmarks to large-scale implementation across all domains.
Future outlook: Seizing AI opportunities and strengthening the position as an intelligent service provider
AI has ushered in historic B2B development opportunities for China Telecom. The carrier's transformation from a traditional "connectivity service provider" to an "intelligent service provider" represents a comprehensive brand upgrade and a fundamental business model overhaul. Token monetization offers a value measurement framework suited to the intelligent economy. The scaled use of digital employees shows how AI is moving from concept to tangible productivity in the real economy.
The capabilities of communication networks will continue to strengthen as next-generation network technologies like 50G PON and Wi-Fi 7 mature. The growing convergence of compute and networking will further blur the lines between connectivity and computation. China Telecom will build on its unique strengths in cloud-network-edge-device synergy, foster an open and collaborative skill ecosystem, and strengthen its position in the AI industry, unlocking new value for the digital economy.
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