Updated on 2024-05-17 GMT+08:00

Billing Details

This section describes the billing details of Global SIM Link (GSL), including enterprise authentication, specifications, billing items and billing modes, pricing, changing plan, inactive period, renewal, unsubscription, arrears, expiration, and precautions.

Enterprise Authentication

GSL is available only to Huawei Cloud-certified enterprises. For details, see Enterprise Real-Name Authentication.

Specifications

Service price is determined by the IoT data plan specifications.

  • IoT SIM Card Types

    Traditional physical SIM cards are classified into SMD SIM (6 mm x 5 mm) and plug-in SIM. Plug-in SIM cards include common SIM (25 mm x 15 mm), micro SIM (15 mm x 12 mm), and nano SIM (12 mm x 9 mm). By default, card plans are purchased by year. Once a plan is purchased, its carrier and specifications cannot be changed.

  • IoT Data Plan

    The IoT data plan specifications determine the monthly data quota and the plan price.

  • Cellular Network Types (Physical SIM Card)
    • China Mobile IoT SIM cards only support 4G networks.
    • China Telecom IoT SIM cards only support 4G networks.
    • China Unicom IoT SIM cards support both 3G and 4G networks.
    • IoT SIM cards of carriers outside the Chinese mainland only support 4G networks.

Billing Items and Billing Modes

Table 1 GSL billing

Billing Mode

Billing Item

Billing Details

Yearly (traditional physical SIM card)

Yearly plan

  • Billing rule: You need to make one-off payment for one-year data fees when placing orders. The billing cycle is by calendar month for China Telecom, China Mobile, and carriers outside the Chinese mainland. China Unicom bills from the 27th of the previous month to the 26th of the current month.
  • Renewal rule: The expiration date of each card is calculated separately. It is the end of the 12th billing cycle, which starts from the month when the card is activated. To renew a card, submit the request for renewal one month before the expiration date.
  • If no forward data pool is created: The data of each physical card is calculated separately. When the data is used up, the network connection is cut off and the quota is restored in the next month.
  • If a forward data pool is created: Activated physical cards in the pool share data. When used data exceeds the total data of the cards in the pool, all cards are automatically disconnected from the network and the quota is restored in the next month.

Pay-per-use

  • Monthly service fee of a backward data pool
  • Data fee of a backward data pool
  • After a backward data pool order is placed, fees are charged based on the activation status of cards in the backward data pool and the total data used by cards in the pool in each month.
  • Monthly service fee of a backward data pool is charged based on the total number of in-use and suspended cards in the pool in the current month. If a card is activated or an activated card is deregistered, the service fee of the card is still charged in the current month.
  • The data fee of a backward data pool is charged based on the total data used by cards in the pool in each month.

Pricing

For details about the pricing of data plans, see Product Pricing Details.

Changing a Plan

Physical SIM cards: Plans cannot be changed.

Inactive Period

Physical SIM card:

  • Carriers in the Chinese mainland: Generally, the inactive period is six months. If an IoT SIM card is not activated within six months after being registered, it will be activated automatically on the first day of the seventh month.
  • Carriers outside the Chinese mainland: No inactive period. The test period is six months. If an IoT SIM card is not activated within six months after being registered, it will be activated automatically on the first day of the seventh month.

Renewal

You can renew physical SIM cards by order or SIM card. For details, see Orders and Renewal.

Unsubscription

Physical SIM cards cannot be returned.

Arrears

Ensure that the balance in your Huawei Cloud account is sufficient to cover any upcoming charges. If a fee deduction fails due to insufficient balance, your account will be in arrears, which will affect the normal use of services. If the balance is 0, the service can still be used. For details about fee deduction, see Table 1.

Huawei Cloud sets retention periods.

If your account is in arrears but is still in the retention period,

  • all of your backward data pool resources are unavailable, and SIM cards in the backward data pool will be suspended.
  • only the view permission on the GSL console is left.

Expiration (After Retention Period)

If you fail to pay the outstanding amount when the retention period ends, your IoTDA resources will be released and all your SIM cards and data plan resources on GSL will be deleted.

Precautions

GSL provides data only for Internet access. It does not support voice and SMS.