China Telecom to offer 3G network surfing cards

China Telecom Corp Ltd announced on Wednesday that it has introduced pre-paid card products that will allow third generation, or 3G, network users to buy the ability to transmit specific amounts of data.

The carrier is the first Chinese telecom operator to offer wireless network traffic products to customers. Compared with older types of telecom contract plans, the pre-paid data cards are more convenient to purchase, flexible to use and targeted toward specific amounts of data demand, China Telecom said in a statement.

China Telecom offers three different 3G network data cards: one for 60 megabytes of data, one for 150 megabytes and one for 300 megabytes. The price for a 60-megabyte card is 10 yuan ($1.60).

"Data traffic management is a very important task for telecom carriers, especially when they enter the mobile Internet age," said Le Huihua, senior product manager of China Telecom’s operation management division.

China Telecom has seen its 3G network data traffic increase quickly in recent years, Le said. By October, its data use per subscriber increased by 130 percent over the figure at the end of 2011. Its total data traffic increased three times during the same period, according to the company.