Sources inform ''Globes'' that Israel's big three mobile carriers - Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR), and Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) subsidiary Pelephone Communications Ltd. - will announce new sales campaigns in response to the entry of new carriers into the market and the aggressive price competition that has emerged.
Sources at the veteran carriers say that they are not surprised by the prices offered by the two carriers - HOT Mobile Ltd. and a target=new href=http://www.golantelecom.co.il/gt-site/>Golan Telecom Ltd. - and that the carriers were ready to wage war.
Mobile market sources said that Cellcom, Partner, and Pelephone would soon announce offers that were just as attractive as those plans offered by HOT Mobile and Golan Telecom. In other words, prices in the market would converge at around NIS 100 per month for all inclusive plans.
Yesterday, Pelephone already announced an all-included plan at NIS 119 per month for subscribers whose phone bills exceed NIS 250 a month.
As a result of the aggressive competition on prices, mobile market sources reiterated that the sector was headed for a wave of what they called "drastic and painful" cutbacks. The veteran carriers will apparently soon fire hundreds of employees.
Commenting on the aggressive mobile market competition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his Facebook page, "The mobile market revolution has already made it possible for every one of you to pay a lot less than you used to pay. Grab the opportunity to pay less."
The share prices of the telecos are plummeting on the TASE today. By early-afternoon, Cellcom was down 7.8% to NIS 38.26, after falling 8.3% on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday; Partner was down 5.6$ to NIS 24.27, after falling 6.6% on Nasdaq yesterday to $6.47, HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT) was down 5.2% to NIS 35.80, and Bezeq was down 2.5% to NIS 4.99.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 15, 2012
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2012