In the context of telecom operators collectively cracking down on third-party online card sales and pushing back against market chaos, the reality of commission cuts for China Unicom agents in the Hangzhou region is becoming increasingly evident.
Recently, Zhang Lei (a pseudonym), head of the Hangzhou-based agency for China Unicom, Wozhi Lian Communication, disclosed that in June this year, commissions for online channels and door-to-door sales channels in the Hangzhou area, including his own store, were uniformly slashed by over 40%, with direct sales teams facing an additional 10% reduction. He noted that starting today, some discounted plans have been discontinued, and the newly launched plans cost up to 100% more. For example, the previous 300M broadband plan from Zhejiang China Unicom, priced at 360 yuan per year, now costs 480 yuan per year, a 33% increase. Some special integrated broadband plans, which previously cost only 28 yuan per month, are now uniformly priced at 79 yuan per month. The combination of steep commission cuts and the elimination of third-party online card sales highlights China Unicom's anxiety over declining performance. It also reflects a widely acknowledged industry consensus: "Operators no longer care about new card activations; the core focus is on retaining existing customers without decline."
"Commissions in the Hangzhou area have been uniformly cut by 40%." As a veteran with 14 years of experience in the telecom industry, Zhang Lei, a China Unicom agent in Hangzhou, was shocked when he received the commission settlement for June this year. "Our June commissions were directly reduced by 40% without any prior notice or official documentation," Zhang Lei explained. As an agent for China Unicom in Hangzhou, he had helped the company acquire over 10,000 customers over three years. However, in June, he first experienced a 40% commission reduction without any warning. Additionally, his offline store was also eliminated due to non-standard activation practices, such as a high volume of group orders. Zhang Lei is not alone in facing delayed commission payments. According to him, since June this year, online channels and door-to-door sales agents in the China Unicom Hangzhou area have uniformly faced a 40% reduction, with direct sales teams facing an additional 10% cut, representing a very high proportion. "Channels with violations like subsidy cards or false advertising had their commissions directly suspended; channels without violations also experienced delayed payments and a direct 40% reduction in settlement amounts," Zhang Lei stated. Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, China Unicom reported revenue of 102.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 0.51%, and net profit attributable to shareholders of 2.137 billion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 17.99%. This marks the first time in six years that both revenue and net profit have declined. "The first quarter is typically a peak season for operators, but this year the decline was severe, so it's understandable that our commissions were cut," Zhang Lei said resignedly. The underlying reason for the commission cuts is likely China Unicom's "budget depletion and inability to bear high marketing costs." This pressure was foreshadowed. Since 2024, China Unicom has been consistently lowering the commission settlement coefficients for agents, continuously compressing channel costs, with the core strategy being to gradually phase out small agents like himself with low commission-sharing ratios. As of the time of reporting, China Unicom had not responded to inquiries about the delayed commission payments.
"Now, some plan prices have increased by up to 100%." If the delayed commission payments are a cost-cutting measure by China Unicom, then the recent elimination of third-party online card sales can be seen as a revenue-boosting strategy to enhance product management and stabilize income sources. Recently, China Unicom, along with China Mobile and China Telecom, collectively issued a "Notice on Standardizing Internet Card Sales Business," announcing that from August 1, 2026, other third-party internet channels will no longer provide card activation services. Many netizens have compared plans and found that agent channel China Unicom plans offer 29 yuan per month for 280GB of data and 100 minutes of talk time, while China Mobile plans offer 19 yuan per month for 220GB of data and 100 minutes of talk time. On the official websites of the three major operators, China Mobile's M-zone Mango Card costs 59 yuan per month for 20GB of general data, 30GB of directional data, and 100 minutes of talk time, while China Unicom's Smooth Ice Cream 5G plan costs 129 yuan per month for 30GB of data and 500 minutes of voice calls, highlighting a stark price disparity. An internal notice provided by Zhang Lei indicates that from August 7, China Unicom in Zhejiang will officially discontinue multiple products, including the 49 yuan per month "Traffic King Premium" plan and the 79 yuan per month plan with a 20 yuan discount. Furthermore, after these products are discontinued, Hangzhou China Unicom will launch integrated broadband (phone card + broadband + TV) starting at 79 yuan per month, a significant price increase. According to Zhang Lei, previously, customers could access long-term integrated plans with home broadband and phone cards for as low as 28 yuan per month through third-party channels. However, with the adjustment of the starting price for integrated broadband to 79 yuan per month and the elimination of online channels, the price of related plans could increase by over 180%.
"Operators no longer care about the number of new card activations." This series of adjustments also reflects the predicament of China Unicom and the entire telecom industry. Since the first quarter of this year, besides China Unicom, China Mobile and China Telecom have also experienced rare declines: China Mobile's net profit attributable to shareholders was 29.3 billion yuan, down 4.2% year-on-year; China Telecom's net profit attributable to shareholders was 7.35 billion yuan, down 17.08% year-on-year. Behind the collective performance decline, the commission expenses of third-party marketing channels, as a major cost item beyond employee salaries for major operators, have reached a "cost-reduction" turning point. Since February this year, operators have also tightened controls on cross-regional card sales at offline stores. According to a China Mobile agent, since February, Beijing has implemented grid management, where channel work numbers of partner stores are bound to the store's location. If the store is more than 200 meters away from its location, the system cannot log in, preventing card activation. "Previously, agents could operate anywhere in Beijing, going door-to-door to communities and enterprises to activate cards in bulk for employees. Now, cross-regional customer acquisition is no longer possible," the agent said. The reason for setting a 200-meter limit is that cross-regional agents often sell cards at lower prices by sacrificing a portion of their commissions, leading to unfair market competition. As a result, controls have become stricter. At the same time, the entry barriers for new channels have also been significantly raised. It is almost impossible to obtain permission for new store card activation, and work numbers for card activation can take one or two months to be issued. From online to offline, from plans to channels, a control network is tightening comprehensively. From agent commission delays and cuts, the elimination of low-cost online cards, broadband price increases, to stricter offline controls, all adjustments point in the same direction: increasing revenue per user, compressing channel costs, and ending low-price competition. From the peak of industry growth in 2019, to the temporary rebound in data demand driven by short videos in 2020, and now to the full shift toward refined management of existing customers, the era of low-price, rapid growth in the telecom industry has indeed come to an end. "The three major operators no longer care about new card activations; the core focus is on retaining existing customers without decline," a Beijing agent's comment may serve as the best footnote. When users open new cards for cheap plans and cancel their old, higher-priced cards, the more new cards operators activate, the lower their revenue. The era of low-price, high-data plans is gone forever. Those agents who once relied on low-cost cards are being left behind by the times.
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