Macau eSIM
Data for Macau on CTM and China Telecom, from $5.89. It never expires, tethering is included, and refills land on the line you already have, with nothing new to install.
- Networks
- CTM and China Telecom
- Typical speed
- 84 Mbps typical, 24 Mbps at busy times
- 5G
- yes, non standalone
- Throttle
- None on metered plans
- Tethering
- Allowed on every plan
Plans for Macau
| Data | Validity | Price per GB | Price | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB | Never expires | $5.89 | $5.89 | |
| 3 GB | Never expires | $2.96 | $8.89 | |
| 5 GBMost travellers | Never expires | $2.18 | $10.89 | |
| 10 GB | Never expires | $1.59 | $15.89 | |
| 20 GB | Never expires | $1.19 | $23.89 | |
| 50 GB | Never expires | $0.94 | $46.89 |
Every plan works the moment you land. Unused data returns to your wallet when the line closes, and customers get at least 100 MB of free rescue data a month even at zero balance.
What 84 Mbps actually means in Macau
Typical download speed on Orbislo in Macau: 84 Mbps. That puts Macau well above the Asia median of 43.9 Mbps.
The tenth percentile is 24 Mbps. That gap between the median and the floor is normal and it is where the frustration lives: the connection is quick most of the time and noticeably slow in the busiest few percent of moments, typically at transport hubs at peak hour.
At these speeds nothing on a phone is limited by the connection. Video calls are comfortable, a laptop can be tethered for a full working day, and large photo backups finish without planning around them.
Which networks you will be on
Orbislo carries traffic in Macau on CTM and China Telecom. Your phone is not tied to one of them. When the network you are attached to congests or drops, the profile moves you to the other, and it happens without a prompt and without you noticing anything except that the connection kept working.
This matters more than the headline speed. Almost every travel eSIM sold today resells a single upstream agreement per country, so when that one network has a bad hour you have a bad hour with it and your only option is to buy a second eSIM from somebody else. A profile with more than one network behind it can make a decision you never see.
5G in Macau: yes, non standalone. Worth knowing that 5G on a travel profile is normal rather than special, and that the tenth percentile above is the number that will decide how the trip feels, not the generation label in the status bar.
What data costs in Macau
A 500 MB plan for Macau starts at $0.40, which is $0.00 a gigabyte. That is the number to compare between providers, because a headline price attached to a different allowance tells you nothing.
The comparison most providers would rather you did not run is cost per gigabyte actually used. Independent surveys of travel data put the share of purchased data lost to expiry between 20 and 35 percent, because a plan that expires on day thirty deletes what you did not get through. Orbislo data has no expiry date, so the gigabyte you paid for is still there on the next trip. At the same headline price that is 25 to 40 percent more usable data, and in Macau it means the effective cost is nearer $0.00 a gigabyte than $0.00.
Because nothing expires, the cheapest way to buy for Macau is to buy slightly less than you think you need and top up if you run out. Topping up takes about ten seconds and does not involve installing anything. Buying too much is the expensive mistake everywhere else and merely a neutral one here.
Landing in Macau
Install before you fly, on your home wifi. The profile downloads while you still have a connection you trust, then sits dormant until you land in Macau and it attaches to CTM.
On landing there is one thing to check: data roaming has to be switched on for the Orbislo line. It is off by default on both iOS and Android, and it has nothing to do with roaming charges here, because the plan is prepaid and there is no bill to run up. Turn it on for the Orbislo line and leave it off for your home line, and your home number keeps working for calls and bank codes without costing anything.
What is restricted in Macau
- Prepaid SIM registration: Macao's Cyber Security Law, Law 13/2019, in force since 22 December 2019, makes operators register every prepaid card to a real name. Cards activated before that date had until 19 April 2020 to be registered, and unregistered prepaid cards lost mobile service on 20 April 2020.
- ID at purchase: CTM, the largest operator, requires every buyer of its prepaid cards, visitors included, to present an original identity card or a valid passport so the card can be registered at the point of sale, a requirement it attributes to the Macau Government.
- Prepaid card quota: Since 21 November 2025 a person registering prepaid cards with a passport or other travel document may hold no more than 3, while a Macau identity card holder may hold 6. Once the quota is reached, CTM bars any further registration.
- False registration: Registering a phone card with false identity details is a criminal matter in Macao. The Public Prosecutions Office warns that the person a card is registered to may face criminal or civil liability if the card is later used for unlawful purposes, so a registered card should stay with its owner.
- Lawful interception: A law on the interception and protection of communications took effect in August 2022. With prior authorisation from a judge it allows the authorities to intercept or record telephone and other electronic communications without the parties' consent, and lets police request communication records from social media operators, including those not based in Macao.
Worth knowing about Macau
- Macao runs its own telecommunications law separately from the mainland. Under the radiocommunications regime of Law 21/2024 a handset or other terminal for the public land mobile service needs no type approval, no network or station licence and no import licence to bring in.
- Low power short range radio equipment that meets the conditions in Chief Executive Order 198/2014, as amended, is likewise free of any government authorisation, type approval or holding licence, which is the rule a traveller carrying a radio or a receiver runs into.
- In December 2020 prosecutors pursued three staff of a local telecom company and one other man suspected of registering at least 210,000 prepaid cards through shell companies and other people's identity details, then passing the cards on. Some reached phone fraud syndicates.
- The US State Department's 2023 human rights report found no public reports that the government overtly restricted or disrupted internet access or censored online content in Macao.
- The emergency number in Macao is 999, and 110 and 112 are listed alongside it, so a visitor can dial whichever number they know from home. For hospital emergencies, S. Januario Hospital is on 2831 3731 and Kiang Wu Hospital on 2837 1333.
- Not every phone can make a VoLTE emergency call in Macao without a SIM card. CTM's compatibility list shows iPhone SE and 6S or later can call without a SIM, while Samsung Galaxy A12, A13 and A14 can only make a VoLTE emergency call with a SIM inserted.
- A CTM prepaid card activates with its first call, text or data connection, and an SMS then confirms the number, balance and expiry date. Only a reload extends the expiry date. Buying a data plan does not, and any balance left when the card expires is forfeited.
- Under Administrative Regulation 15/2002, a Macao number that its holder stops using is returned and reassigned to someone else. CTM asks prepaid customers to update any website or app registered to the number before they stop using it, which matters for a visitor who received verification codes on it.
How Macau compares across Asia
- Regional typical speed
- 42.95 Mbps
- Upstream networks
- 2, CTM, China Telecom
- 5G
- Yes, non standalone
- Next fastest nearby
- Taiwan, 88 Mbps
- Next slowest nearby
- Japan, 74 Mbps
- Cities with their own page
- 1: Macau
