Israeli mobile phone companies are cursing the decision of the telecoms regulator to cut fees they charge to connect to each other by nearly 80%. The operators argue that this will damage their profits and revenues.
“Reducing connect fees will save the…
Israeli mobile phone companies are cursing the decision of the telecoms regulator to cut fees they charge to connect to each other by nearly 80%. The operators argue that this will damage their profits and revenues.
“Reducing connect fees will save the public about a billion shekels a year, significantly lower the price of a call from landlines to mobile phones and increase competition that will allow the entry of new cellular companies already in the coming months,” communications minister, Moshe Kahlon said in a statement.
Last month, Israel’s three largest mobile phone operators, Cellcom, Partner and Bezeq unit Pelephone – reported second-quarter profit gains of 1.7 to 15% due to higher revenues.
The trio compete in a highly saturated market in which the mobile penetration rate in Israel is well above 100 percent and is among the highest in the world.
Market leader Cellcom said the fee cuts would likely have a “material adverse effect on the company’s results” but that it intends to take measures to mitigate the impact as much as possible.