Virtual operators seemingly awkward scenery

Sun Weitao from each reporter by Beijing

In fact, the fictitious operators seem very awkward. Due to the resale price being too high and so on, it is difficult for virtual operators to attract users through low prices, and the special services to meet the individual needs of users are not completely established.

Recently, at the 2014 Asia Mobile Communications Expo held in Shanghai, the reporter noticed that among the 19 virtual operator companies, only companies such as Snail Games, Music Language and Sky Music attended the exhibition. This really puzzled me.

Li Yi, secretary-general of China Mobile Internet Industry Alliance, told Daily Economic News reporter that the virtual operators originally thought they could attract users through low prices or even free to increase the revenue of their main business, so that even if the virtual operators do not Making money or even losing money can also be subsidized through the main business, but it does not seem easy now to realize that idea.

Can not afford the price war

In the Internet age, Internet companies have nurtured users into price-sensitive groups through low prices and even free publicity. But this time the virtual carrier seems to have rocked itself down.

Shortly after obtaining the license, many virtual operators declared to the public that the tariffs are low or even free. However, with the fictitious operator number 170 section number one after another release, the announcement of the tariff standard disappoints the user.

For example, the fictitious operator phone world announced the earliest 9 package tariffs, the lowest 29.9 yuan / month, with 80M data traffic and 80 minutes of voice calls, the highest 399.9 yuan / month with 3500M traffic and 1000 minutes of voice. The 59.9 yuan package contains 260M traffic and 100 minutes of voice communications, and China Mobile 58 yuan 4G Internet surfing 500M traffic and 50 minutes compared to the call, the advantage is not obvious.

Another fictitious operator Aliyat announced tariffs users Tucao. The main voice, text messaging and Internet are converted into traffic billing, charges 0.125 yuan / M to 0.2 yuan / M. Package 1 yuan fuel package, equal to 5M traffic, 6.6 minutes of domestic calls and 10 text messages.

In contrast, China Mobile 4G tariff equivalent to about M cents per M traffic, China Unicom 4G / 3G integrated package discount of about 6 cents per M traffic. Therefore, the price advantage Ali package communication is not obvious.

However, these tariffs still meet the needs of some low-cost subscribers, but also break the tradition of traditional carrier package design and abandon the complicated package design.

Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, commented on Ali's communications tariff design that there was no surprise in innovation. In his opinion, this situation is mainly affected by the resale of the "basic" operator "wholesale price" is too high.

An unnamed person in charge of virtual operators told reporters bluntly, because the resale price was negotiated last year, but this year operators have made a substantial reduction in tariffs, resulting in the current virtual operators get the resale price are Higher than the traditional retail market operators, if at this time again at the previous price is obviously inappropriate.

Power segment

Since the price war can not fight, virtual operators can only win by the distinctive services. And this is what most people in the industry point out to virtual operators. Zou Xueyong, deputy secretary general of China Virtual Operators Industry Alliance, told the "Daily Economic News" reporter that in the era of mobile Internet, virtual operators should grasp the mobile Internet portal through virtual operators and bring the enterprises themselves into them. Package innovation and superimposed different business capabilities, force in the market segments, rather than compete with the traditional operators for the market.

In fact, many virtual operators are also exploring and experimenting, such as car networking, internet of things, smart home, mobile education, mobile health care, international business travel services and the like. The purpose of each enterprise is not the same because of different target selection. Some enterprises come purely for virtual operators in order to have a good performance in the capital market. Some enterprises are trying to transform new branch businesses beyond the main business, while others want to operate through virtual operations Business can be combined with the main business to improve competition barriers.

Prior to this, RTHK endeavored to move the field of health through cross-border methods. Users collected body data by wearing smart and healthy devices. The target groups were urban white-collar workers, middle-aged and young-loving parents, middle-aged and elderly people who needed blood glucose and blood pressure monitoring market.

Recently, another virtual operator snail game announced a wholly-owned acquisition of domestic gaming mobile terminal manufacturers Swiss high into the mobile terminal hardware industry. The purpose of the acquisition of Swiss high snail is self-evident, the use of Swiss high-end game users custom online games handheld, and snail mobile virtual operators business depth, in order to improve the snail's influence in the field of games.

The fourth largest operator of the competition

In the face of telecom industry this tempting big cake, every virtual operator is coveted. But in order to get a piece, it is not easy.

For example, this model of mobile health in the language of music is favored by many in the industry, but the constraints are also more obvious. Although there are already a lot of wearable devices on the market, most of them are still concentrated in the auxiliary accessories of smartphones, and the killer products still do not appear. In the field of health care, in particular, although it is generally optimistic and cautious, because medical data is different from other communication data, once the data is in error, it will have a completely different medical effect.

It is not easy to get new business revenue through market segments across borders, which is a warning. According to the reporter, in the comparatively developed virtual operator market in the United States, in 2006 Disney won the virtual operating license and conducted business in the children's education market, binding parents and children's mobile phones. Parents can monitor their children's movements in real time. However, Years and a half later announced the cessation of operations.

And in the above terminal, virtual operators are optimistic about the strength of the market segments and in fact, not only virtual operators and even the traditional three major carriers are active layout.

At the 2014 Asian Mobile Communications Forum, the reporter noticed that the three major carriers started to vigorously develop and exert efforts in areas such as healthcare, education, video and games. Especially China Telecom's eight bases, of which five bases began corporatization operation, the introduction of external capital for market-oriented competition.

Xu Gang, deputy general manager of China Mobile Market, said recently that according to the development rules of the global virtual operation market, 70% of the fictitious operators will die in the first five years of carrying on their business.

Fu Liang, an independent telecom analyst, believes that 90% of China's virtual operators did not figure out exactly what to do before they applied for it. They all felt the stones and crossed the river, so the virtual operators should find their own niche. And in the early stages of development, in the system testing, team building and testing the market stage, both products and services or brand and after-sales, it takes time for the user to approve.