China’s Big Three operators have withdrawn all promotions touting unlimited data offers following orders from the government.
China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom have swapped out all advertising on their websites related to unlimited offers with more general slogans such as “Enjoy Trustworthy Use”, according to C114.net.
Reportedly, the China Consumers Association and the industrial and commercial administration considered that the supposedly ‘unlimited’ offers amounted to false advertising, prompting the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to shut down such promotions.
Data rates are a hot button issue in China, with the major operators slashing their tariffs compared to last year – across January-August 2018, China Mobile dropped its average rates by 60% compared to the same period in 2017. Additionally, its ARPU from 4G subscribers fell by almost 10% to CNY64.40 ($9.29) at the end of H1 2018.
