Entertainment mogul: Starting his business with the internet

Chapter 520 The 4G Era: Shared Interests

In June, a new chapter began in the history of the Chinese internet.

On the morning of the 1st, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued 4G licenses to the three major telecommunications operators: China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, marking the beginning of a brand-new era of communications.

Inside the office, Song Ci intently browsed the news about the issuance of 4G licenses on her computer screen, a smug smile creeping onto her lips.

The 4G licenses were issued a full six months earlier than in my previous life, which shows that my strong push for the "Internet+" proposal at the national conference in March has indeed attracted the attention of the top leadership.

This decision to accelerate the development of the national digital information industry presents a golden opportunity for Tengda Group, which has already been preparing for this momentous occasion, to take its business to the next level.

The opportunity was too good to pass up. Having made up his mind, he deftly picked up the landline phone and pressed the internal short number.

"Chairman Song!" Jiang Tiantian answered crisply from the other end of the receiver.

"Director Jiang, the General Office has issued a notice that a meeting of senior executives of the group will be held at 9:00 a.m. on June 4th."

"Yes, Chairman Song." Jiang Tiantian responded and then asked, "What is the agenda for the meeting?"

Song Ci carefully selected words: "Tengda Group's strategic opportunities, potential challenges, and comprehensive responses in the 4G era."

"Understood, the General Office will draft and issue the document immediately."

Just as the microphone fell, there was a gentle knock on the office door.

"Come in." Song Ci looked up and saw Zhang Yong and Wang Jing arriving together.

The two greeted each other and then sat down familiarly at the desk.

As soon as Wang Jing sat down, she handed over a document in her hand, her tone solemn:
"Chairman Song, I just received an email from China Mobile. Chairman Xi Guohua wants to lead a team to visit you to discuss cooperation."

Song Ci took the document and quickly glanced through it, then thoughtfully stroked her chin:

"The 4G licenses have just been issued, and Mr. Xi is already making a visit. It seems that China Mobile is really impatient this time."

Zhang Yong was well aware of China Mobile's intentions and chuckled, "In the 3G era, China Mobile was constrained in every way."

Despite having a huge user base and financial strength, it is like holding gold but unable to make any progress, and its glory of the 2G era is nowhere to be seen.

Now that a new era has begun, they naturally want to be at the forefront, lest they fall behind.

Song Ci gave a soft "hmm," leaned back in his chair, and gazed into the distance: "China Mobile was forced by circumstances to be assigned the TD-SCDMA 3G standard, which has independent intellectual property rights in my country."

Whether in terms of technological maturity, supply chain support, terminal ecosystem, or user experience, it is difficult to compete with China Unicom and China Telecom.

He shook his head slightly, his words tinged with emotion: "This is not due to a lack of strength, but rather the price we have to pay to support the national strategy of independent innovation."

Forced into market competition under non-market conditions, against adversaries wielding superior weaponry, the difficulties are unimaginable.

Zhang Yong and Wang Jing nodded in unison, both fully aware of the predicament China Mobile faced in the 3G era.

Zhang Yong adjusted his glasses: "Especially after China Unicom introduced the iPhone in 08, this revolutionary product redefined the smartphone experience."

The large-scale switching of high-end mobile users to China Unicom has had an immeasurable impact on China Mobile's brand image and user base.

“That’s exactly right.” Song Ci placed his hands on the table and analyzed, “The TD-SCDMA standard is not mature enough and is limited to China, which has led to international manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung being unwilling to invest in the research and development of models.”

Mobile 3G phones have consistently struggled to overcome the problems of limited models and poor user experience, preventing them from gaining a foothold in the market.

Zhang Yong shared the same sentiment and then analyzed: "China Mobile dominated the 2G era with its GSM network, but this success became a hindrance during the transformation."

Maintaining the massive existing 2G business while simultaneously promoting the immature TD network inevitably creates a dilemma.

Wang Jing smiled upon hearing this and gave a vivid analogy: "If you ask me, China Mobile in the 3G era is like a martial arts master with profound inner strength but whose moves are restricted. He has a lot of cultivation but no way to use it."

Thinking about it this way, I understand why President Xi was in such a hurry.

Song Ci's eyes gleamed: "It is this excruciating pain that will make China Mobile spare no effort to reverse its decline in the 4G era."

And this is precisely the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Tengda!

Zhang Yong picked up the thread and objectively assessed: "According to the information available to the technical department, although China Mobile's 4G standard TD-LTE still includes the 'T,' it is now vastly different from what it used to be, and technically it is on par with China Unicom."

Now that its weaknesses have been overcome, China Mobile is determined to redeem itself and rebuild its former glory.

Wang Jing echoed: "At the press conference not long ago, China Mobile made a solemn pledge on the spot, stating that it would build the world's largest 4G network, which shows its determination."

Song Ci couldn't help but exclaim: "The construction of 4G networks will drive hundreds of billions of yuan in investment, inject strong momentum into the entire industry chain such as communication equipment, network planning, and terminal manufacturing, and bring in a massive number of orders."

Our strategic partner Huawei is likely to ride this wave and soar to new heights.

Zhang Yong's expression turned serious: "With the leap in network speed in the 4G era, high-bandwidth services such as high-definition video, mobile games, and cloud applications will thrive, and all business departments should prepare for this in advance."

"I had already made arrangements before you arrived," Song Ci calmly informed him. "The senior management meeting on the morning of the 4th was specifically for this purpose."

Wang Jing looked on with admiration and sincerely praised, "Chairman Song has such keen insight that he always manages to seize the initiative!"

"Let's skip the pleasantries." Song Ci waved his hand, interrupting Wang Jing's flattery, his steady and powerful voice firmly capturing the attention of both of them.

"I just thought about it and I think that China Mobile's initiative to seek cooperation is most likely aimed at network construction and experience optimization."

Zhang Yong expressed his strong agreement: "Song Dong is a wise judge."

The group's big data technology can accurately analyze user traffic models and mobile scenario data, helping mobile networks scientifically plan base station locations and maximize network resource efficiency. This is one aspect.

After a brief pause to organize his thoughts, he continued his analysis: "Secondly, in the early stages of 4G network construction, insufficient signal stability is inevitable."

I suspect that China Mobile has its eye on WeChat's signal enhancement and adaptive compression technology, which allows it to maintain a relatively stable connection even in weak network environments.

This will optimize the network experience from the base station to the user's mobile phone, providing users with an unprecedentedly smooth experience from the very beginning of 4G commercialization.

Song Ci nodded slightly: "Old Zhang, your judgment coincides with mine. However, the scope of cooperation goes far beyond this. With the support of 4G's high speed and low latency, Tenda's cloud computing and big data capabilities will open up a vast blue ocean for application innovation."

His tone gradually rose, filled with a passion for describing the future: "For example, we can jointly develop high-definition video group chat within the WeChat ecosystem."

It even features unprecedented social functions such as real-time AR interactive filters and lightweight cloud games.

These 4G-era exclusive features are themselves the most attractive selling points for users, creating a strong driving force to prompt users to upgrade to 4G networks.

A brief silence fell over the office as Zhang Yong and Wang Jing were immersed in the beautiful vision of Tenda empowering mobile with data and achieving a win-win cooperation between the two parties.

However, Song Ci suddenly changed the subject: "But none of these are the cooperation goals I truly desire!"

His piercing gaze swept over his two capable lieutenants, and he revealed his true intentions, word by word: "The area I most want to cooperate in is the terminal market!"

"Terminal?" Zhang Yong and Wang Jing's faces were filled with confusion and astonishment. They wondered to themselves: Tenda's main business is internet services and software ecosystem, and it has never been involved in hardware manufacturing!

Seeing the two looking confused, Song Ci patiently explained: "A few days ago, Engineer Liu reported to me that the team had worked tirelessly for six months to overcome technical challenges."

TenOS, the mobile operating system developed by Tenda, has officially launched its first mature and usable version!

Of course, we must view the current situation objectively.

Currently, TenOS is still a product of deep customization and optimization based on Android's open-source code, and has not yet been able to completely break free from its dependence on Android's underlying architecture to achieve complete independence.

After a brief pause, Song Ci said firmly, "But this first step in the Long March is a breakthrough from zero!"
With this basic version, at least when reporting to superiors, we can present tangible results and provide a preliminary explanation to our leaders.

As CEO, Zhang Yong possesses exceptional strategic acumen and immediately recognized the immense opportunity hidden within Song Ci's words, realizing it even before Wang Jing.
"Mr. Song, are you eyeing the huge future market for 4G contract phones from China Mobile?"

“That’s exactly what I mean!” Song Ci nodded, stating his assessment, “I predict that in order to quickly seize the 4G market, China Mobile will need to sell at least 1 million mobile phones in the next one to two years.”

Although they are all mid-to-low-end contract phones, the total number is a massive 100 million!

If every device can be equipped with the TenOS system, a preliminary system ecosystem can be built! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to 'seed' TenOS on a large scale!

Having said that, Zhang Yong and Wang Jing understood.

When the top leader visited Tengda last year, he entrusted Tengda Technology with the important task of developing an "independent and self-reliant domestic mobile phone operating system".

The chairman has always shouldered heavy responsibilities, and has gone to great lengths and devoted himself to finding breakthroughs in the ecosystem applications of TenOS.

Previously, the bank had painstakingly courted Huawei and Xiaomi to become shareholders of MYbank and share core interests. One of its long-term goals was to bring these two domestic mobile phone manufacturing giants under its control.

By becoming more closely tied to Tenda, it paves the way for the Tenda mobile operating system to be used in Huawei and Xiaomi phones in the future.

Thinking of this, Wang Jing felt a complex mix of emotions, a deep empathy for Song Ci's immense pressure and a sense of gratitude for the group's investment. She softly offered her words of comfort:
"Chairman Song, don't put too much pressure on yourself. Since the higher-ups are determined to promote the domestic system, they will definitely provide corresponding policy support at critical moments."

The group has invested enormous human, material, and financial resources in the development of TenOS, and the progress achieved is evident to all. The leadership has no grounds for criticism.

“I know all this in my heart!” Song Ci shook his head, clearly unwilling to discuss the hardships at this moment, and quickly steered the conversation back to the reality of business planning.

"Currently, the focus should be on how to implement this cooperation plan. My plan is to bring Huawei into the cooperation framework as well."

Song Ci's calm gaze swept across Zhang Yong and Wang Jing's faces, carrying both inquiry and determination:

"Now, the right time, the right place, and the right people are all in place. The issuance of 4G licenses is the right time; the three parties each have their own advantages and needs, which is the right place; "

We have a long-standing and positive cooperative relationship with China Mobile and Huawei, and we share common strategic goals, which is a testament to our harmonious relationship.

This is the perfect opportunity for the three companies to forge a deep partnership and jointly create a "network + terminal + ecosystem" iron triangle!

Song Ci sat up straight and began to articulate his well-thought-out collaborative plan in a clear and organized manner, like a commander-in-chief deploying troops for battle:

"In this iron triangle alliance, each party has a clear goal and a well-defined role:"
China Mobile's core objective is to rapidly promote 4G networks and reverse its user disadvantage from the 3G era.

It can provide high-quality 4G network support, competitive call rate subsidies, and a powerful, unparalleled nationwide offline mobile phone sales network.

Huawei also has its own goals; it certainly wants to seize market share in the mid-to-low-end mobile phone market and refine its communication technology.

They will be responsible for providing the mobile phone hardware design and manufacturing, while ensuring that the communication module is perfectly compatible with and deeply optimized for the mobile TD-LTE network.

What Tenda needs is to build the TenOS ecosystem, opening up a third mobile ecosystem entry point in addition to iOS and Android.

The group can provide a deeply optimized TenOS operating system that is highly compatible with mobile 4G networks, and integrate and embed all popular applications such as WeChat, mobile payment, online video, and app stores.

At the same time, it can also provide value-added services such as cloud storage and big data analysis, empowering the entire ecosystem.

Before Song Ci could fully reveal his ideas, Zhang Yong, who had already caught up with the train of thought, smoothly took over the conversation:
"In this way, a perfect closed loop is formed: China Mobile gains user stickiness and traffic growth through its network and channels; Huawei increases its market share and brand penetration through large-scale shipments."
By pre-installing TenOS, Tenda successfully brought users into and locked them into our internet service ecosystem, gaining valuable user access and data resources.

This is a true win-win situation!

"Indeed! Zhang Yong understands me best!" Upon hearing this, Song Ci clapped his hands and laughed heartily.

The laughter was filled with praise for his capable assistant and the satisfaction of having his strategic ideas thoroughly understood.

He paused again, looked at the belatedly aware Wang Jing, and gave the order: "Sister Jing, how about this, you take charge personally."

I communicated and negotiated with the mobile company, clearly expressing my intention to upgrade the originally planned high-level meeting between the two parties into a three-party strategic meeting and to invite Huawei to join.

I believe that with Mr. Xi's foresight and wisdom, he will certainly be pleased to see this happen and welcome such a powerful ally to join us.

On the Huawei side, I will call Mr. Ren to explain the situation and extend an invitation. We will then see whether Mr. Ren can attend or whether he will send his rotating CEO to participate.

We should strive to hold a tripartite meeting as soon as possible to finalize the general direction of cooperation face-to-face and establish a '4G ecosystem alliance'! The sooner the better.

Wang Jing's expression hardened, and she readily agreed: "Don't worry, Chairman Song, I'll contact them right away to handle it and ensure the cooperation is successfully completed."

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(End of this chapter)