Chapter 16 The mobile phone is not a "single item" charge?

Are communication charges expensive in Hong Kong?How much does a mobile phone cost per month?How to make an international call?Is there anyone like the young people in the mainland who hold a mobile phone all day long and "talk on the phone" endlessly with their necks tilted?To be honest, I came to Hong Kong because I was a journalist and there was a fixed communication fee every month, so I didn’t know much about the market conditions in this area. I only know that all telephone calls in Hong Kong are very cheap. , mobile phones, local calls, and long-distance are not expensive, this is a basic reality.

I used to know that many years ago in the Mainland: the people in the Mainland and the country (in fact, several telecom monopoly companies) have been fighting for several years on the issue of how to pay for mobile phones. Until now, the mobile phones in the Mainland are still " Two-way charges".Therefore, when I wanted to know the specific telecommunications prices here from my friends in Hong Kong, what I blurted out was the question of "one-way" or "two-way", and I kept guessing in my heart that mobile phones in Hong Kong must be "one-way charging", because "one-way" Doesn't it sound cheaper than "both ways"?

However, as soon as my "self-righteousness" came out, I was immediately beaten up by those in the know.My friend hit me first: saying that mobile phones in Hong Kong are not "one-way charging" but "two-way charging"; another sticking point: you mainlanders are so strange, why do you always focus on "one-way charging" or "one-way charging"? Two-way charges"?Why is no one calculating the overall cost of using a cell phone?If the "overall cost" of using a mobile phone comes down, and the price of the phone is not inflated, what's the difference between "one-way" or "two-way"?It left me speechless.

In fact, there are two payment methods for telephone communication in Hong Kong: one is "prepaid"; the other is "subscriber". Unit time billing option, but all appear in the form of packages.For example, in the 108 yuan "package" provided by a certain company, the overall call time is allowed to be 1,700 minutes, and the 1,700 minutes are divided into 800 minutes for one price, and 900 minutes for another price.The average price per minute is only HK$0.064. At first glance, this kind of charge sounds cheap enough, right?So why are merchants so generous?Wouldn't they lose money by setting such a low fee standard?What I learned next is of course not the case. Telecom operators in Hong Kong provide cheap mobile phone services for this society, and they will definitely not do things that are "losing money". Of course, they are not philanthropists. The reason why they can be so "generous" is the reason behind the competition, and the means of profit are often hidden in a concept called "one's own people".

The mobile phone market in Hong Kong is divided into "own people" and "non-own people". The concept of "own person" is that if the two parties in the call use the network of the same operator, this is in the scope of "own person", and the call is super cheap; Businesses, that is, "non-self", the price is very high, so the larger the scope of "self" is, the lower the company's cost; the high price of "non-self" can also partially nourish the value-added services of "self" The meager profits brought about——thus, in order to save money, many users in Hong Kong, especially some young students, often buy mobile phone “packages” from the same company, or after discussing with each other, they suddenly collectively “switch” to the same operator. business.

Hong Kong people and mainlanders also have different habits of using mobile phones. For example, "sending text messages". In recent years, I have found that mainlanders often use "sending text messages" to communicate with each other, which is rare in Hong Kong.Why Hong Kong people don't like "texting"?Don't they understand that "texting" is much cheaper than calling directly from a cell phone?I was also puzzled at first, but after I understood the concepts of "my own" and "not my own", I realized that "sending text messages" is actually not cost-effective in Hong Kong, because a person needs to make a phone call, and it takes only a minute between "my own people". A few cents, but if you send a text message, if you accidentally enter the world of "non-persons" (who knows which network the other party is in), a text message is more than 1 yuan, oh, so most Hong Kong people don't Take that risk, they ain't too rich for that, or don't care about petty gains.

There are various mobile phone "packages" in Hong Kong, 108 yuan is just one kind, others are 50 yuan, 488 yuan, travel rewards, flight rewards and so on.However, in a high-income, high-consumption society, why can Hong Kong's communication costs be operated at a low cost, making mainland mobile phone users frequently envious?The reason for this of course comes from competition, from the "hematemesis and profit sharing" that many businesses have to carry out frequently in order to survive. As far as I know, currently in the 2G field, the telecommunications companies in Hong Kong include New World Transmission Network, SmarTone Smartone, Peoples, Orange, Sunday, CSL and other six or seven large-scale operators, among which CSL also operates One2Free and 1010 two service brands, in addition, there are some small virtual operators renting services similar to Sunday and CSL networks.However, in the mainland, when people receive mobile phone services, they either use China Mobile or China Unicom. Local operators like Beijing's "Little Smart" who dare to "disturb the situation" have long been struggling to survive.In such a huge telecommunications market in China, only a few operators have monopolized it for a long time. This situation is unthinkable in Hong Kong, and the beautiful situation of "small profits but quick turnover" cannot be achieved at all.

Originally, the competition in any social telecom tariff market is a double-edged sword. If the tariff is high, the operator (or the country) can profit, but the user's general willingness to communicate will be forced to decrease; but if the tariff is low, User needs are mobilized, but the profits of operators (or countries) will be affected.On this issue, Hong Kong people pay more attention to what kind of profit level is a balance point for businesses, and who will recognize this "balance point"? The development speed and service level of Hong Kong's telecommunications industry have been at the forefront of the world for many years. Its telephone density ranks first in Asia today, and the penetration rate of fax lines has also maintained the world champion. Such a mature and stable "market" must have A reasonable profit "balance point" for merchants.Therefore, Hong Kong people are very surprised when mainlanders still only know that there is a "two-way" or "one-way" debate on whether the charging method for mobile phones is "two-way".

Whether the telecommunications market in a country or region can maintain a long-term, healthy and stable development, the key is that the government must first allow the construction of a virtuous cycle of competition. This "environment" is like land. If there is not enough "land", how can people Can it be expected that the remaining charges can be continuously adjusted by merchants to be as scientific, reasonable and fair as possible? At present, countries and regions in the world that use "two-way charging" for mobile phones include the United States, Canada, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and Macau, etc., while countries and regions that use "one-way charging" include Europe, Japan and India. There are rich and poor in these countries and regions, so how to charge mobile phones, here is not the difference between "one-way" advanced and "two-way" backward. In this regard, the comparison between mainlanders and Hong Kong people is indeed lacking. Some "macro" vision.