Israeli cellco Partner Communications and Altice-owned Hot Mobile have received government approval for the country’s first network sharing deal.
The Ministry of Communications’ go-ahead for the agreed JV comes nearly a year after that of the…
Israeli cellco Partner Communications and Altice-owned Hot Mobile have received government approval for the country’s first network sharing deal.
The Ministry of Communications’ go-ahead for the agreed JV comes nearly a year after that of the Antitrust Commissioner in May 2014.
An industry executive said the network sharing agreement was likely a prelude to a full merger in 2016, by which time the Ministry of Communications is expected to have softened its stance on consolidation among the country’s five mobile operators. Israeli telecoms regulators, he said, were following the European Commission’s greater leniency on in-market mobile mergers and would likely follow suit.
In the meantime, the JV will become operational once it receives a telecoms licence and the 4G spectrum awarded to both companies.
Partner operates as Orange, while Hot is owned by Altice head Patrick Drahi.
Partner and Hot were not available for comment by press time. The two companies compete with network owners Pelephone, Cellcom and Golan Telecom, plus several MVNOs.
