Chapter 215

"Daily sales of the Xiaolingtong mobile phone in Hanxi exceeded 18,050 units, setting a new historical record!"

"The Xiaolingtong mobile phone has broken a new record for domestic mobile phones, with cumulative sales surpassing 74,500 units in just six days!"

"Breaking foreign brands' monopoly in the domestic market, the Xiaolingtong mobile phone has sold over 70,000 units in six days, with revenue exceeding 370 million RMB!"

"Xiaolingtong production capacity is under strain; multiple telecom service points in Hanxi are sold out!"

If previously, when Xiaolingtong phones were selling well in Japan, domestic electronics firms, telecom operators, or media industries mostly watched the news through TV and newspapers without truly feeling its impact,

now, with Xiaolingtong phones being sold domestically, Hanxi Television had filmed countless people queuing outside telecom buildings to buy Xiaolingtong phones—everyone could see just how wildly popular Xiaolingtong was in Hanxi.

"Beijing Post and Telecommunications announced that, to promote the development of China's communications industry, it approves the trial operation of Xiaolingtong phones in Hanxi Province and other regions, but requires Xiaolingtong phones to operate within designated frequency ranges!"

"Tell Zhongxing Company announced it has won a 450-million-RMB contract for PHS communication equipment from Hanxi Telecom!"

With Beijing Post and Telecommunications' statement, the domestic development of Xiaolingtong was essentially tacitly accepted—neither supported nor opposed, merely observed in silence.

The entire domestic communications equipment industry understood that this 450-million-RMB order was merely the beginning; orders for the main urban areas of Hanxi's ten cities, plus surrounding counties and districts, would require PHS base stations to be deployed down to villages and towns—this order might double or more. A gold mine seemed to have appeared before China's telecom industry.

"Telecom operators in Shanghai, Yangcheng, Pengcheng, Hangcheng, and other regions have successively announced tenders for PHS base stations; Tell Zhongxing's orders for the second half of the year have already surpassed 2.45 billion RMB!"

But this stance was more than enough for Xiaolingtong phones; it wasn't feasible to expect Post and Telecommunications to openly declare support for Xiaolingtong—even if they truly intended to, they couldn't say so outright, as that would be too obviously biased, making it impossible for foreign phone brands to compete domestically.

Li Dongling High-Tech's profit per Xiaolingtong phone sold remained unknown to telecom companies, but the profit telecom companies earned per unit sold was crystal clear!

For every Xiaolingtong sold, Li Dongling High-Tech gave telecom a 15% profit share—750 RMB—this was just from the phone sale itself!

Each phone sale required a SIM card, costing 150 RMB in network access fees, plus 15 RMB prepaid for three months of monthly fees, totaling 165 RMB; adding the phone profit, that's 915 RMB.

In other words, telecom earned nearly a thousand RMB per Xiaolingtong sold—but don't forget, telecom operators' real profits came from call and SMS charges; that was the real money.

Almost immediately after Post and Telecommunications made its announcement, Tell Zhongxing received a massive PHS base station order from Hanxi Telecom—Tell Zhongxing would be responsible for constructing PHS base stations across ten cities and their subordinate counties in Hanxi Province!

As Xiaolingtong phones surged in sales, countless agents flooded Pingyang, eager to secure distribution rights for Xiaolingtong in other regions; Beijing, Shanghai, Yangcheng, and others eagerly awaited its arrival—yet Tell Zhongxing kept releasing news.

"Tell Zhongxing announced it secured an order for 10,000 base stations from Beijing Telecom, with potential expansion to 20,000–25,000 base stations; Beijing Telecom declared it would cover the entire city with PHS signals!"

Ancient wisdom says: before troops move, provisions must be ready. The same applied to Xiaolingtong: to launch in any city, base stations must be deployed first—otherwise, even if phones were sold, there'd be no signal, making them as useless as firewood, even less useful than firewood.

Even companies like Juhua Factory, who previously dismissed PHS, now hesitated—was the profit from switches still so lucrative that switching to PHS base stations and handsets would mean abandoning a golden goose? For companies like Juhua and Julong, the transition was hard to accept unless they were truly at their wit's end; few were willing to leave their comfort zones.

After Xiaolingtong's massive success in Hanxi, telecom's confidence soared; it began aggressively expanding PHS base station construction across major Chinese cities. The reason telecom pushed so hard? The profits were enormous!

This news sent shockwaves through the entire telecom industry. For companies still focused on switches—Juhua Factory, Julong, Datang, Dongfang Communications—the fact that Tell Zhongxing had pivoted to PHS equipment, stabilized its position, and begun securing massive orders, was a massive shock.

Even if Xiaolingtong call rates were cheap, they still charged—each Xiaolingtong user paid at least dozens to hundreds of RMB monthly, a recurring revenue stream!

Landlines and fixed phones still generated solid profits, but they could never bring the explosive user growth and profits that Xiaolingtong did: in six days, Hanxi Telecom gained over 75,000 new users and 68 million RMB in profit, completely curing its anxiety.

Mobile and Unicom were probably still stunned—they knew telecom was backing PHS technology, but they never imagined Xiaolingtong could be this fierce.

Under these circumstances, telecom was desperately deploying PHS base stations. For a state-owned enterprise like telecom, how much money Xiaolingtong could make wasn't even the top priority; the crucial point was that if Xiaolingtong could bring hundreds of thousands or even millions of users, allowing telecom to surpass Unicom and Mobile as China's largest telecom operator, then for telecom's leadership, political achievement mattered more than financial performance—that was what truly counted.

Now, telecom was far more proactive in promoting PHS base stations than Li Dongling High-Tech—even though initial investment was high, telecom was racing to build base stations to attract more Xiaolingtong users.

"The net profit generated by Xiaolingtong's domestic sales has now exceeded 110 million RMB!"

In Li Dongling High-Tech's office, Ren Ren Yuefeng said to Li Li Dongling with some surprise—the domestic sales of Xiaolingtong had exceeded his expectations.

Xiaolingtong's current profit margin is around 30%, thanks to Li Dongling High-Tech's established supply chain: except for the screen, every component—from design and operating software to chips, motherboards, batteries, antennas, and assembly—is supplied by Li Dongling's own suppliers: Dongxin Semiconductor, BYD, Hanxi New Materials, etc. —this allowed Li Dongling High-Tech to control overall costs and boost profits.

Added to this, Xiaolingtong's high retail price of 4,999 RMB meant Li Dongling High-Tech earned a net profit of 1,500 RMB per unit—absolute windfall profits!

Xiaolingtong selling well in Japan

didn't surprise Ren Ren Yuefeng—Japan's per capita income made buying one a minor burden.

But for domestic users, buying a Xiaolingtong still required real effort; yet seeing it sell over 10,000 units daily in Hanxi still stunned him.

Looking at the sales figures, Ren Ren Yuefeng felt that if Xiaolingtong were launched nationwide, its annual sales might truly reach Li Li Dongling's earlier estimate.

The thought of a mobile phone brand selling over ten million units annually—right before his eyes—and he, as its nominal general manager, couldn't help but feel his heart race; for a professional manager, such an achievement was nearly the pinnacle of his career!

Li Li Dongling glanced at the sales sheet and wasn't particularly surprised—mobile phones were now essential to modern life; everyone had some need for one.

Of course, phones could also symbolize fashion, status, and identity—like the "big brother" phones, many businessmen loved carrying one when meeting clients; a heavy, several-kilogram device, worn daily—didn't they get tired? Yet countless people still carried them, because a 10,000-RMB "big brother" phone signaled power and status, earning respect in business or public settings.

Fashion mattered too: when Apple phones first appeared in the past, they were branded as fashion icons; countless young people took pride in owning one, as if not carrying an Apple meant falling behind, and missing out on social gatherings without one felt like losing face—this drove countless people to frenzy, spawning the largest black-market reseller network in the phone industry, inflating prices beyond reason...

Now, the newly launched Xiaolingtong carried a touch of fashion appeal, naturally drawing many followers.

"Production capacity must keep pace—get the Xiaolingtong production line in Pudong, Shanghai, online as soon as possible; also, prepare Xiaolingtong TV and print ads for Hong Kong, Siam, Singapore, Cochinchina, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and other regions!"

"Xiaolingtong is being exported to these overseas markets?!" Ren Ren Yuefeng's spirits lifted at Li Li Dongling's words.

Li Li Dongling smiled. "As long as Xiaolingtong performs strongly in mainland China and Japan, overseas telecom operators will inevitably come knocking, eager to license PHS technology—this is Xiaolingtong's best chance for export!"

After reaching daily sales of 18,050 units, Xiaolingtong's sales in Hanxi entered a period of "stagnation"—for several consecutive days, sales struggled to break the 20,000-unit barrier and even showed signs of decline.

Just as the public assumed Xiaolingtong's explosive growth had peaked, it announced its launch in Beijing.

On the day of its Beijing launch, at 4 p. m., Beijing Telecom announced that all 20,000 Xiaolingtong phones delivered to the city had sold out!

The entire domestic media industry fell silent—the popularity of Xiaolingtong had surpassed everyone's expectations.

Following Beijing, Xiaolingtong launched in Shanghai, Yangcheng, Pengcheng, and other major cities; Li Dongling High-Tech publicly revealed Xiaolingtong's daily sales figures for the first time.

"Xiaolingtong mobile phone daily sales in China exceeded 70,000 units; global cumulative sales surpassed 860,000 units!"

When this news broke, the global mobile industry turned its gaze toward Xiaolingtong—how long had it been since launch? Already approaching one million units sold! This pace even surprised Motorola, a veteran phone giant.

But once Xiaolingtong began charging forward like a wild beast, no one could stop it!