Cellcom signs agreement with Home Center Mobile (Israel)

On 08.30.11, In Mobile, Mobile Operators, Mobile Phones, By Editor

Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Home Center Mobile, a unit of DIY chain Home Center has signed a deal with leading Israeli cellular provider, Cellcom Israel Ltd. Under this agreement Home Center Mobile, a customer of Cellcom, will sell mobile phones and offer discounted tariff plans in an attempt to compete with other mobile carriers.

This deal is the latest in the list of agreements being signed between a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) and a mobile carrier. Past agreements of a similar nature include Alon Cellular Ltd. who signed a deal with Partner Communications Ltd., while Rami Levi Ltd., Ituran Location and Control Ltd., and Free Telecom Ltd. have signed agreements with Pelephone Communications Ltd. However, of these only Ituran has begun operations and the sale of services.

 

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Cellcom makes $241 million bid to acquire NetVision (Israel)

On 03.15.11, In Mobile, By Editor

Cellcom has reportedly offered to acquire its sister company, fixed line voice and broadband operator NetVision, for approximately US$421 million in cash. Both companies are subsidiaries of the IDB Holding conglomerate.

According to Cellcom, NetVision has not responded yet to their proposal and they can provide no assurances that they will enter into any transaction. If an agreement is reached, they intend to fund the purchase price, in whole or in part, with new debt financing arrangements. Should NetVision agree to the deal it would be subject to approval by a majority of those shareholders in both the companies that are not affiliated with IDB Holding, while it would also require a nod from the relevant regulatory authorities.

 

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Israeli communications minister urges antitrust regulation of cellcos

On 11.22.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Moshe Kahlon, the Israeli communications minister, has called on Antitrust Authority Commissioner Ronit Kan to consider whether the country’s mobile network operators should face additional regulation after recent activities.

According to reports, the move was prompted by recent price hikes made by the cellcos, with Ministry of Communications (MoC) spokesperson Yechiel Shabi noting that the minister believes it is in the antitrust authority’s power to check the companies’ recent behaviour … The three mobile companies raised customer rates on about the same day and at similar rates and also approached the High Court of Justice with the same claims.

All three of Israel’s major mobile providers Cellcom, Pelephone and Partner Communications revealed last week that they would increase tariffs in light of imminent reductions in interconnection rates, and Shabi stated that should they be declared an oligopoly, the antitrust watchdog would be authorized to supervise the operators.

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Israel’s telecommunications regulator orders to cut down the interconnection fees

On 09.03.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Israel’s telecommunications regulator has ordered mobile operators to cut interconnection fees by nearly 73%.

According to Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, interconnect fees will drop to  US$0.0181 a minute at the start of 2011 from US$ 0.066 now. Fees will turn down further to US$0.0167 per minute from 2012, to US$0.0156 from 2013 and to. Termination fees for text messaging will also fall sharply.

The decline is based on the final proposals by Nera Economic Consulting, which examined the cost pricing model of mobile network components.
According to Kahlon, reducing interconnection fees will save the public about  US$264.27 million a year, considerably lower the price of a call from landlines to mobile phones and increase competition to support the entry of new mobile companies.

According to Market leader Cellcom, the cuts would reduce its annual EBITDA next year by US$110.99 million and net profit by US$ 84.56672 million.

Israel’s telecommunications regulator has ordered mobile operators to cut interconnection fees by nearly 73%.

According to Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, interconnect fees will drop to ILS US$0.0181 a minute at the start of 2011 from US$ 0.066 now. Fees will turn down further to US$0.0167per minute from 2012, to US$0.0156from 2013 and to. Termination fees for text messaging will also fall sharply.

The decline is based on the final proposals by Nera Economic Consulting, which examined the cost pricing model of mobile network components.

According to Kahlon, reducing interconnection fees will save the public about ILS US$264.27 million a year, considerably lower the price of a call from landlines to mobile phones and increase competition to support the entry of new mobile companies.

According to Market leader Cellcom, the cuts would reduce its annual EBITDA next year by US$110.99 million and net profit by US$ 84.56672 million.

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Cellcom inflates its revenue balloon with the profit of 17.7%

On 08.27.10, In Mobile, By Editor

Cellcom Israel Ltd. has announced its financial results for the second quarter revenues were up by 5.2% to US$436 million compared to the previous year. EBITDA rose by 7.1% to US$176 million while the EBITDA margin of 40.3% was up from 39.6% a year ago and net income totaled US$84 million. Basic earnings per share for the quarter were US$0.85.
Subscriber base increased around 28,000 during this quarter, all post-paid subscribers reaching approx. 3.341 million at the end of June 2010. 3G subscribers reached approx. 1.076 million at the end of June 2010, net addition of approx. 39,000 in the second quarter 2010.
The Churn Rate in this quarter was 4.9%, compared to the last year. Average monthly subscriber Minutes of Use (“MOU”) were 338 minutes, an increase of 2.4%.
According to Amos Shapira, Chief Executive Officer, in the second quarter of 2010, Cellcom showed a strong performance with solid growth in revenues, EBITDA, EBITDA margin, operating income, net income and subscriber base.
Furthermore, airtime minutes grew 5.6%, year over year, in the second quarter compared with a 3.4% growth last year. Service revenues grew 5.5%, year over year, this quarter. In the second quarter 2010, the company continued to expand the 3G subscriber base, reaching 1.076 million at the end of June 2010, representing 32.2% of the total subscriber base.

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Cellcom suffers loss of 9% in net profit (Israel)

On 05.21.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 9% year-on-year decline in net profit has been reported by Israeli mobile network operator Cellcom and the loss can be attributed to increased financial costs. A net profit of ILS314 million (USD85 million) has been posted by the telco for the three months ended March 31, 2010. It has gone down from ILS348 million in the same period a year earlier.

3% rise in the revenue has also been recorded which went up to ILS1.414 billion while EBITDA also increased, rising 1.8% against 1Q 2009 to ILS638 million.

21,000 wireless customers have been added by Cellcom in the first three months of 2010 to bring its overall base to 3.31 million. The number of 3G customers rose by 40,000 in the quarter to 1.037 million.

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Cellcom asked to stop blocking VoIP by MoC (Israel)

On 02.24.10, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Cellcom has been asked by Israel’s Ministry of Communications (MoC) to halt blocking internet applications including VoIP. Internet access for all online services must be allowed by Cellcom as per the license.

It was found out that the operator’s subscribers were prevented from using a number of applications, including internet telephony after the cellco’s contracts with customers that require infrastructure services and internet access were checked.

Israel’s largest mobile operator by subscribers, Cellco had 3.26 million customers at end-September 2009, of which 941,000 had signed up for third-generation services.

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Motorola Israel asks for final MIRS bids by mid-Sept

On 09.08.09, In Mobile, By Editor

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Motorola Israel has asked the interested bidders for its iDEN subsidiary MIRS Communications to submit final offers by the middle of September. Three telecoms operator namely Pelephone, Cellcom and Partner Communications have announced plans to bid for MIRS, despite opposition from the Israeli Ministry of Communication (MoC).

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Pelephone wants a stake in Partner’s 3G network, papers say

On 12.15.06, In Mobile, By Editor

Israeli cellco Pelephone has struck a preliminary agreement to take a stake in the 3G network of rival Partner Communications Company, but the deal could yet be blocked by regulators, according to Globes Online. The proposed deal would see Pelephone sharing Partner’s W-CDMA/HSDPA infrastructure, and is currently being scrutinised by the Antitrust Authority, which has previously indicated that it is not in favour of 3G network sharing. Pelephone and Partner will wait to negotiate the finer points of the agreement, including price, until approval is received.

According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Partner rolled out its W-CDMA network in December 2004, a few months after market leader Cellcom. It has since invested substantially in expanding the service. It claimed to be the first 3G operator to provide person-to-person video calling and is also proud of its exclusive content deals allowing it to broadcast major news, sports and entertainment programmes. By the start of 2006 it had 3G coverage of more than 92% of the population, and in March it launched the country’s first HSDPA network. Pelephone is Israel’s only CDMA-based operator and its current 3G offering is based on 1xEV-DO technology. Last month it revealed plans to roll out a HSDPA/HSUPA network, representing an about turn in its CDMA-based services strategy. It won UMTS spectrum in the 2000MHz band in December 2001, but has yet to utilise the frequency to roll out W-CDMA-based services as employed by its rivals. It looked set to leapfrog W-CDMA altogether and move straight to the HSPA upgrade. As Pelephone does not currently operate either GSM or W-CDMA-based networks, the HSPA rollout will necessitate a heavy infrastructure investment, but taking a stake in Partner’s 3G network would reduce costs significantly and speed up the rollout process.

 

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