We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chapter 629 CDMA
When talking about the communications industry, the first thing that comes to mind is definitely the three major operators. In fact, they were all integrated later. It started with a monopoly by one company and then evolved into a competition among seven major players.

Telecom dinosaur, this is what the outside world calls Chunghwa Telecom.

What is Chunghwa Telecom's current business scope? All telecommunications services including fixed-line telephones, mobile phones, satellite transmission, and paging.

More importantly, the construction of submarine cables and domestic backbone networks was also entrusted to it. In addition to telecommunications business, Chunghwa Telecom also performed some government functions at that time.

This practice of having one team in two institutions has led to serious institutional expansion and extremely low staff efficiency.

According to statistics, the number of workers required for the construction of each telephone main line in Rabbit is not only more than ten times that of developed countries such as Europe and North America, but also several times that of Southeast Asian countries.

This is still the case now. I remember that in 98, Chunghwa Telecom had developed into the world's second largest telecommunications network operator, with more than 60 employees, fixed assets of 6000 billion, and annual business revenue exceeding 2000 billion.

This caused a sensation at the time and became a hot topic on the Internet, which means it was on the hot search list.

However, it became a hot topic not because of these assets, but because of its dominance.

There was such an absurd story that happened in 1998, when the Criminal Investigation Brigade of Fuzhou summoned the Chen brothers on suspicion of illegally operating telecommunications business.

As for why they were arrested, it was because the two brothers opened a shop selling electrical appliances and then thought about how to promote it.

At that time, they accidentally discovered an IP Internet phone software developed by the Kingdom of Judah, so the two quick-witted brothers came up with an idea and used this software to launch such a promotional activity.

Anyone who buys electrical appliances from my house can use my Internet phone to talk to relatives and friends abroad for five minutes for free.

Some people ask what can be done in five minutes, then you are totally wrong.

At that time, the cost of a long-distance call to the United States was 18.4 yuan per minute, and a long-distance call to Western Europe was as high as 27.4 yuan per minute. If you calculate it this way, a five-minute cross-border call was worth more than 100 yuan.

What did 100 yuan mean at that time? The average monthly salary of Rabbit’s employees was only more than yuan, which meant that they could only make five minutes of phone calls in a week of work.

With this comparison, don’t you think that the promotion organized by the Chen brothers is very generous in its discount?

It's not just for those who have relatives abroad, it doesn't matter even if you don't have any relatives, because these five minutes can be resold, and it's worth it if you sell it for ten dollars a minute.

The consequences are predictable. People flocked to their stores, and some people even made multiple purchases to thank them for the extra call time.

When the two brothers saw that the business was good, why bother selling electrical appliances? They simply switched their main business to telephone business.

For this purpose, the Chen brothers applied for a public telephone, purchased a computer, and applied for a dedicated account for 163 dial-up Internet access.

This 163 is not the one from NetEase. It was the dial-up Internet access method that was widely used at that time. NetEase used 163 as its website domain name because it wanted to take advantage of other people's traffic.

However, there is an illegal link in this business, that is, the Chen brothers did not apply for the relevant license, and they are operating the external long-distance telephone business in the form of illegal households.

Depending on the country they called, they only charged six to eight yuan per minute, which was less than one-third of the official international long-distance price at the time.

Just as expected, the Chen brothers' international long-distance service became extremely popular once it was launched, with long queues of people waiting to make calls every day.

However, the Chen brothers were happy about making money, but the local telecommunications bureau was furious.

So they immediately reported them to the Public Security Bureau, and the reason for the report was that they violated the regulations that both long-distance and international communications services must be operated uniformly by the postal and telecommunications departments.

Therefore, it not only harms the interests of the country, but also disrupts the market order.

When the local public security bureau saw that it was a matter involving Chunghwa Telecom, they realized it was a big deal and had to be dealt with seriously.

The case was filed in half a day, and all the equipment including computers, phones, etc. of the Chen brothers were seized, and a deposit of 50,000 yuan was collected.

The Chen brothers did not choose to keep quiet, but filed a lawsuit against the Public Security Bureau in the local court, claiming that the bureau had abused its power and that its fine had no legal basis.

However, the local court rejected their request, and the Chen brothers then appealed to the FZ City Intermediate People's Court.

When the trial opened, Lao Rong, a legendary netizen who was once named one of the top ten netizens in 1998, also appeared in court to testify. He explained to the court what IP telephony is and how it works.

Ultimately, the court ruled that IP telephony does not fall within the scope of telecommunications monopoly.

What’s interesting is that on the day the court made its ruling, people from the Telecommunications Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Information Industry met with reporters from the People’s Post and Telecommunications News in the capital, roughly meaning that they would join forces with relevant departments to crack down on IP telephony.

The public statement of a competent department was actually diametrically opposed to the court's ruling, so this matter immediately caused widespread discussion and put Chunghwa Telecom in the spotlight.

In fact, no one supports Chunghwa Telecom, it's their own fault. Not only do they charge high fees, but their service is also not that good. Not to mention the high cost of long-distance calls, even installing a phone is very expensive, ranging from 2,000 to 3,000 yuan, and it depends on the mood of the operator. It doesn't mean that they will install it immediately after paying the money. Waiting for three or two months is considered fast.

As soon as this incident happened, there were endless calls from the public for the introduction of foreign telecommunications companies, which also promoted the introduction of the country's first telecommunications anti-monopoly reform.

In fact, these are all secondary. The most important thing is that the country wants to develop domestic communication technology through competition to avoid being unable to compete head-on with overseas telecommunications giants after joining the WTO and to safeguard the country's information security and industrial interests.

In 1999, the split and reorganization of Chunghwa Telecom officially began.

First, Chunghwa Telecom's mobile communications business, unlimited paging business, and satellite communications business were separated and subsequently became China Mobile Communications Group, China Paging Communications Group, and China Satellite Communications Group.

Later, Jitong, Xiaolingtong and China Unicom appeared, and the pattern of competition among seven countries was initially formed.

However, China Unicom was not established at this time. It is the second telecommunications operator after Chunghwa Telecom.

"The Ministry of Electric Power, the Ministry of Railways, and the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics have decided to jointly establish a telecommunications company named China Unicom.

I have already negotiated with them that Far East Communications will become the second largest shareholder with a 22% stake by means of technology and capital."

These 22% shares are not easy to obtain. The one who is opposed is not anyone else, but the unexpected United States.

Although it was not stated explicitly, the Luo family attached great importance to Rabbit's communications business, and even Kissinger came to serve as a consultant for China Unicom.

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The Luo family has no choice now, and Rabbit won’t allow it. Otherwise, do you think they don’t want to take part in it?

The reason why Luo Nianzhong was able to negotiate the deal was not only because of the rewards the Luo family had given to Rabbit over the years, but also because he promised to solve the problem of the United States.

Fortunately, Zipperton is in power now, and Donkey is willing to do Luo Nianzhong a favor and stop the development of the Luo family.

"This is great! If we can penetrate the rabbit communications market, half of the world's population will become our potential users."

Yuan Tianfan was naturally overjoyed at the news. Although the number of communication users in Asia is small now, the potential is huge. After all, more than half of the world's population is in Asia.

"Don't be too happy too soon. For China Unicom, whether it can develop is still another question."

"Are you talking about Chunghwa Telecom's suppression?"

Suppression is certain. Don't forget that all of Rabbit Telecom's businesses now belong to Chunghwa Telecom.

Apart from anything else, if he doesn't provide you with the connection service, your number cannot be dialed.

Of course the service will be connected, but some small actions are necessary.

For example, many cities will deny or delay your connection service due to technical issues, so your number cannot be used in this city.

If a number cannot be used for calls across the country, what is the point of having this number?

At that time, only certain people and organizations could afford to buy and install telephones. No one would use this obviously limited service without huge discounts.

This has also been the case in history. Not only was China Unicom forced to drastically reduce its rates, it also had to build its own communications network.

Fortunately, China Unicom does not have to live a hard life in this life, at least Far East can raise funds for it.

"Breaking into the Rabbit Communications market is one thing, but the most important thing about investing in China Unicom is the testing and application of CDMA technology."

Now the whole world is using the GSM network, and even the United States is no exception.

It is easy to imagine how expensive it would be to operate another network in addition to the GSM network.

You should know that there is no manufacturer of production equipment for the current CDMA technology. The only one with the ability and technology to quickly set up a production line is Far East.

However, Far East's CDMA technology has several disadvantages compared to GSM, namely, it is expensive and has serious after-sales problems, because these require Far East to invest and solve them on its own.

But this is a necessary investment, no matter how much money it costs.

Once the intelligent era arrives, the more Far East invests now, the greater the returns will be in the future.

This is also the reason why Luo Nianzhong is willing to invest money and technology in China Unicom, even at a loss to gain publicity.

(End of this chapter)