Xfone and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) have resumed their negotiations on network sharing. Xfone has withdrawn its petition against the network unification agreement between Cellcom and Electra Consumer Products (TASE: ELEK), which is acquiring Golan Telecom Ltd. Xfone and Cellcom agreed last Thursday to settle their differences out of court, and Cellcom undertook to allow Xfone to be part of a trio of companies in a network unification deal, and not to discriminate against it.
Xfone petitioned the court after it sensed that Cellcom was no longer interested in the network unification agreement signed by the two companies. Before Electra Consumer acquired Golan Telecom, Cellcom and Xfone had sought a network unification agreement between them in the framework of Xfone's efforts to enter the cellular market, either independently or by acquiring Golan Telecom.
The Ministry of Communications delayed approval of the agreement, however, and demanded clarifications from the parties. Meanwhile, Electra Consumer completed a deal to acquire Golan Telecom, and quickly signed a network unification agreement with Cellcom. In addition to its failure to acquire Golan Telecom, Xfone also was concerned that it would lose its network unification agreement with Cellcom. Xfone therefore demanded clarifications from Cellcom that would prevent Xfone from being left with nothing, following declarations by its officeholders of their intention to enter the cellular market in any case, even without Golan Telecom.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on February 12, 2017
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2017