A few days ago, China Telecom and China Unicom's virtual operator primary list was released. Dixintong, JD.COM, Yule, Suning, Gome, Ai Shide, Yin Tian, Alibaba, UFIDA and Sanwu Internet are expected to become the first batch of virtual operator.

Virtual operator's core business is to resell the communication resources of basic operators, that is, to buy telecom services or rent telecom facilities from telecom operators with infrastructure, repackage them into their own brand telecom services, and then sell them to users for profit. Mobile resale is also considered by the industry as "a catfish that affects the long-term development of China's telecommunications industry".

Catfish, not whales, was introduced to virtual operator to activate the market, not to fight a deadly bayonet. This is the real demand of the competent authorities and operators-the chairman of China Unicom often made it clear: Brothers, you are here to help Big Brother make a big cake, not to cut it.

This can also understand why the above-mentioned "small partners" have entered the sight of operators: Dixintong, Suning and other channel providers have been cooperating well with operators; IT vendors such as UFIDA and Sanwu Internet have huge enterprise customer resources, and this vertically optimized service provider can help operators make more money.

But whether making or cutting cakes, virtual operator's first problem is to be able to eat cakes. Taking Suning as an example, the following services are feasible: First, given that the products and services provided by operators are for the "public" rather than a few people, virtual operator can provide more flexible packages, billing cycles and payment methods for target users, such as the free mode of directional traffic; Secondly, Suning can integrate the membership system through its own brand mobile phone number, open up all categories of mobile communication services, home appliances and even online products in Suning.cn, and even gain in-depth insight into users' consumption needs and behaviors through big data analysis to improve customer loyalty; Thirdly, Suning, backed by a strong supplier, can explore a new advertising cooperation model and realize the integration of online and offline services.

In addition to service innovation, product integration, marketing collaboration and other conceivable businesses, the three basic operators actually prefer them to become "chess pieces" in innovation business-operators have realized that it is difficult to adapt to the rapid development of market demand by relying solely on internal resources for high-cost innovation activities; However, the internal innovation cost of operators is too high, and it is not an isolated case that traders "seek nothing but nothing". Virtual operator has a more flexible product innovation system and trial-and-error mechanism than operators, and the innovation results can also be used for reference and replication by traditional operators.

At present, most of the industry leaders who are expected to obtain virtual operation licenses are "eating cakes", but at the same time, they should be wary of "pulling their wrists"-have you noticed that Dr. Peng, a guy who directly competes with telecommunications and China Unicom in the broadband market, has been tacitly excluded by telecommunications and China Unicom, and can only hope that mobile will give him a "leverage" opportunity; Tencent, regarded as a menace by operators, did not "consciously" apply for a virtual operator license, which saved both sides embarrassment.

Too strong will easily lead to operators' rebound and policy changes, while too weak will affect virtual operator's main business brand, which is the realistic dilemma of virtual operator. A second-tier broadband operator once complained to the author that the company reached a cooperation agreement with an operator to buy bandwidth from the latter. However, as long as you want to use price wars to incite the market, or the development momentum is too strong, "small partners" will "turn their faces" and modify the terms, such as limiting the lowest price. Anyway, it won't make you too happy. For competitors who steal customers and destroy the price system, the tolerance of operators is absolutely lower than your imagination.

From the practical experience of foreign countries, long-term cooperation with operators, high brand awareness, differentiation, dedicated service content, a certain basic customer base, relatively low prices and convenient channels are the key factors for the success of virtual operator. Take Virgin Mobile, the most successful model in virtual operator, as an example. When expanding its business globally, richard branson, the founder who is famous for his maverick, is also inevitable. When he goes to a country, he almost always pulls a local basic operator to set up a joint venture company to ensure the complementarity between localization and market segmentation. Virgin Mobile now has150,000 users, and the principle of "benefit * * *" is indispensable.

Only by adopting a focused strategy, providing highly differentiated telecommunications services in market segments, and keeping in mind the principle of "benefit * * *", will virtual operator, a wild lily, have a spring.