Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 410 Pilot Cities
The power of role models is immense. The explosive growth of Thai Telecom in the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business has deeply impressed other countries.

Telecom giants from developing countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines have extended offers to Xinghai Group.

China made the decision to hold business talks with Xinghai Group because of the strong reactions from Southeast Asian countries.

As for Latin American countries, although they are far from the central government, Starsea Communications has invested in several Latin American telecommunications giants.

With the support of its performance in Thailand and the recommendation of its major shareholder, Xinghai Group, these giants are naturally interested in giving it a try.

Telemex Mexico, in particular, which had just changed its name to América Móvil, was eager to complete the introduction immediately.

Because of América Móvil's long-term losses, life has become very difficult for Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos.

In his mind, the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) technology was the key to turning the company around.

Once introduced, it will take off immediately.

Thinking of this, Takeshita Masato added with a smile to the two of them.

"Even if the Chinese market is temporarily slowed down, the group will expand into Southeast Asia and Latin America. Your research and development will not be abandoned."

"Understood. I will have the company's main employees develop the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) project next."

Ren Zhengfei was very pleased, as he could use the two projects to separate the fierce competition between Li Yinan and Zheng Baoyong.

From then on, Li Yinan was in charge of landline and mobile phone projects, while Zheng Baoyong was in charge of the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) project.

"Okay, ZTE has no problem either."

Hou Weigui was equally happy, especially at the thought of earning foreign exchange, which made him extremely excited.

Before accepting Xinghai Investment's investment, he had to beg and plead with everyone he knew to buy advanced foreign equipment.

There was no other way; foreign exchange was extremely scarce in China during the 1990s. Even genuine state-owned enterprises, let alone state-owned enterprises with state-owned capital investment like ZTE, struggled to have sufficient foreign exchange reserves.

Many provinces regard companies that can earn foreign exchange as treasures and pay special attention to them.

These companies can even export at a loss without any problem; the province will make up the shortfall for you, and then you can make a little more profit.

This model even continued into the pandemic era.

Goods can be sold at a loss, and profits can be made through export tax rebates.

Apart from the virtual shares and the promotion plan for PHS phones, the rest are minor issues.

Masato Takeshita was too lazy to discuss it further and left it entirely to the two companies to handle.

However, just as he was preparing to leave the special zone for Beijing, the government suddenly extended an invitation to him.

"No problem, I'm available anytime."

"OK, alright."

Faced with the government's invitation, the young man readily accepted.

If what he thinks is true, and he wants to attract more investment...

Masato Takeshita didn't hesitate to spend money to build several office and residential buildings, while also expanding the scale of the factory.

Anyway, these are all part of this year's plan, so it doesn't matter whether we say it sooner or later.

After meeting with the leaders from the Special Economic Zone, Masato Takeshita decided to make another trip to Guangzhou.

This is also a key city for Xinghai Group, so we cannot afford to be complacent.

Unfortunately, the electronics industry in Guangzhou is underdeveloped. The factories built by Xinghai Group are mainly garment factories.

This type of factory is very good at creating jobs, but it is not very good at making money or paying taxes.

If Xinghai Group wants to truly establish itself in Guangzhou, it needs other high-quality industries.

"Well, we'll find another opportunity in the future."

Masato Takeshita couldn't find a good business opportunity to stabilize the group's position in Guangzhou, so he had to postpone the matter for the time being.

However, judging from the current development trend of Xinghai Group, it will have a good opportunity in two or three years at most.

The young man did not linger in Guangzhou for long and soon boarded a plane to Guangzhou.

However, before going, he made sure to call and make an appointment to avoid any unexpected situations.

As soon as he got off the plane, Masato Takeshita, alerted by Miho Uchida, spotted the staff from the Seikai Group's Beijing branch who had come to pick him up.

"Thank you for your hard work, President Zhang."

"President, you're too kind. It's my honor."

Zhang Shujiang, the head of the Beijing branch, was even a little happy at this moment, as this was a great opportunity to make a name for himself.

If you can be remembered by the president, your chances of promotion will be greatly increased.

After all, Wang Aimin, the current vice president of Xinghai Group's China region, rose to become one of the three giants of Xinghai Group in China based on the deep impression that the chairman had of him.

The invitation from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications sets the time for 3 pm tomorrow.

With time on his hands, Takeshita Masato didn't inspect his properties in the capital, but instead chose to take a good day off.

Of course, the most important thing is to visit your parents-in-law and bring some gifts.

Soon, the day arrived for the two sides to officially meet.

The young man prepared early and arrived at the designated location 10 minutes in advance.

After the two sides met, they shook hands and exchanged a few simple pleasantries. Then they walked and talked as they arrived at the small conference room, which had made great progress.

It seems that after several years of development, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications' economic situation has greatly improved.

Since they were old acquaintances, the two didn't probe too much.

Minister Wu said casually, "Mr. Takeshita, the PHS system is indeed suitable for us. But its technology is not very good, and I am worried that it will affect the deployment of the GSM system."

The reason why the Little Smart (小灵通) was not widely adopted in the previous life was due to the suppression by the postal and telecommunications departments.

Even in this lifetime, many people within the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications are still worried about this situation.

People need to have a long-term vision. It would be bad if the development of PHS (Personal Handyphone System) suppressed the development of the GSM system.

After all, compared to the GSM system, the PHS system was a half-finished product and a dead end.

"I don't think so. Mr. Wu can use the money he earned from PHS (Personal Handyphone System) to subsidize his own mobile phone system."

"Furthermore, increased competition can stimulate mobile phone-related departments to improve outdated operating methods and better serve the people."

Monopolies only lead to lazy governance; this is a universally applicable truth.

The most typical example is France Telecom, due to its strong monopoly.

Until 1998, mobile phone data was similar to that in China.

It's important to know that the per capita income of the two countries differs by several tens of times.

This was also the case when Germany was previously monopolized by Deutsche Telekom, but the German government opened up the telecommunications sector to competition in 95.

As a result, the number of mobile phone users in the German telecommunications market increased four to five times last year.

“Mr. Takeshita has great insights, but it’s still a bit too early for us to understand.”

Minister Wu also understood that monopolies are detrimental to competition, so he actively dismantled his department during his tenure.

Projects related to making money will be spun off as state-owned enterprises.

The Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications will only act as a strategist in core areas, thereby better fulfilling the government's management responsibilities.

However, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications was very large, with countless matters to handle, and the entire department required a lot of time.

So he simply presented the plan he had discussed with his colleagues, saying, "Xiaolingtong is very good and highly beneficial to the promotion of mobile communication technology. However, this technology also has many problems, so we only plan to conduct pilot programs in these few cities."

Pilot programs are a method that was once universally used.

Previously, Xinghai Group had a pilot project in Pattaya, Thailand, which successfully promoted the development of the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) industry in Thailand.

At the same time, Thailand is also a pilot country, giving PHS the opportunity to enter the telecommunications markets of more underdeveloped countries.

If the special economic zones, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chang'an, and other cities achieve great success this time, it will likely be able to be promoted nationwide.

As for Shanghai and Beijing, they are currently still the domain of mobile phones.

Minister Wu was worried that PHS (Personal Handyphone System) was too powerful and would completely destroy the mobile phone sector.

"No problem, it's our honor. We trust Xiaolingtong technology and will not let Minister Wu down."

Even if PHS (Personal Handyphone System) technology completely outperformed GSM in the Chinese market, it would have no impact on China.

Because Xinghai Communications has already invested in Huawei and ZTE, it will cooperate with these two companies in the future to develop practical 3G technologies.

In this way, China naturally acquired its own basic telecommunications technology.

In the upcoming 4G and 5G eras, we can also gain a voice in the global telecommunications market.

Yes, Masato Takeshita did not have the idea of ​​Xinghai Communications developing its own 3G communication system.

Because the Japanese market is too small and competition is extremely fierce, young people need to cooperate with China to gain entry into the mobile communications market.

He didn't want to watch Japan lose its voice in the telecommunications industry, as this would be extremely detrimental to the development of Xinghai Communications.

However, given China's size, it will ultimately have to develop its own direction.

But that doesn't matter, China won't let its own mobile carriers follow the same path.

It is very likely that, just like in the previous life, China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom will each use different 3G technology routes.

Masato Takeshita didn't ask for much; he only wanted one of the companies to choose the technology route taken by Starsea Communications.

In this way, Starsea Communications, which owns parts of the Japanese and Chinese markets, can always remain invincible.

Although the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications approved Xiaolingtong's request to enter China, many details still need to be discussed. Therefore, Xiaolingtong cannot be developed in China for the time being.

This also allows Xinghai Group to complete its related industrial layout in China ahead of schedule.

For example, tell ZTE and Huawei that the matter has been settled.

For example, setting up assembly plants for PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mobile phones in China.

"Minister Wu, where do you think would be a suitable location for us to establish a PHS (Personal Handyphone System) mobile phone factory in China?"

"Let's go to Lin'an, it's closer to the market there."

Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the Yangtze River Delta has been the most developed region in China. Placing your phone here guarantees you won't have trouble selling it.

"No problem, we'll do as Mr. Wu says."

"No, it's best if you decide this yourselves."

Minister Wu waved his hand repeatedly, as he did not want to give others cause for criticism in this regard.

"Yes, I understand. I also have a very positive outlook on Lin'an. There are a lot of small vendors there, who are all potential customers."

There is a city near Lin'an that is the capital of small commodities in China, and even the future capital of small commodities in the world.

Sometimes, the outcome of a US presidential election can be predicted by the quantity and sales volume of election-related goods in a city.

Such a vibrant small commodity market naturally creates a vast number of small vendors.

Many of these people don't have much money, but they still need to make calls. The cheap PHS (Personal Handyphone System) phones, which offer both low call rates, become a very suitable option.

After discussing the Little Smart phone, Masato Takeshita brought up the Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance.

"Should we open more branches and then lower the fees?"

A 5 yuan internet access fee is still too high for Chinese people.

Masato Takeshita is preparing to lower prices to attract more users.

Minister Wu neither agreed nor refused, but instead looked up and asked a question in return.

"Mr. Takeshita, what do you think would be a reasonable price?"

"It'll be 3 yuan per hour. Both of our companies can make money, and it will also help more people get familiar with computers."

"Sure, I have no problem with that."

As an important leader of a country, one cannot only focus on making money; increasing the number of computer users is also an important aspect.

It could even be argued that what happened later was more important to the country.

Because with more computer users, a country can keep up with the pace of developed countries in the information age.

"Alright, let's set the price of internet cafes at around 3 yuan in principle."

"Then the price of new computers is higher, and the price of old computers is lower."

The Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance has more than 200 million computers worldwide.

Because of Moore's Law, these computers will basically be obsolete every two to three years.

Computers discarded by developed countries will end up in internet cafes in less developed countries and regions such as Southeast Asia.

Any surplus is donated to schools around the world.

Although they are second-hand, these computers are actually very sought-after in developed countries.

After all, primary and secondary schools don't need high-end computers; it's already great if they can complete the school's teaching tasks.

It's important to know that in developing countries, many university computers are not as good as those donated by the Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance.

The same is true in China. Apart from a few top universities that have received multiple donations from Xinghai Group, the computers in most ordinary universities are not as good as the old ones in Xinghai Internet Cafe.

As for the computers discarded by Xinghai Internet Cafe in developing countries, they were all donated to schools.

It's a bit outdated, but it's still very useful for practicing typing.

"These are minor matters; let your subordinates handle them."

"Yes, Mr. Wu is right."

Xinghai Internet Cafe was able to lower its prices, which was a relief for Takeshita Masato.

Because he values ​​the role of internet cafes in increasing the number of internet users.

Only by increasing the number of internet users can he increase the number of users of his internet company and thus obtain a higher valuation.

That's right, Masato Takeshita plans to take all the internet companies he founded public to raise a large sum of money and weather the coming internet winter.

Anyway, if he feels it's not suitable, he can take it private again at a very low cost and then go public again after the internet renaissance.

This is also the most important reason why he continuously upgrades the computer equipment of the Xinghai Internet Cafe Alliance in developed countries.

Only with advanced computer equipment can you attract more users from developed countries.

The cost of 100 to 200 yen per hour for internet access is negligible for Japanese users who earn close to 1000 yen per hour for part-time jobs.

They go to the arcade, and the game is over in less than two minutes.

The same applies to the United States; a $1 or $2 internet fee is nothing to them.

(End of this chapter)