Golan Telecom continued to lead in June in the number of net new subscribers recruited by a wide margin over Hot Mobile, its competitor. If there were any surprises, they were in the older companies in the sector: Cellcom lost 11,000 net subscribers, a serious loss, while Partner lost half that number and Pelephone's subscriber losses dropped to only 1,300.

Golan Telecom's NIS 35 per month bargain continues to make waves in the cellular market. Two years after entering the market, the company continues to lead in new subscribers. Although Hot Mobile recruited more gross subscribers through an aggressive campaign of bargains (28,000 new subscribers, compared with 26,000 for Golan Telecom), Hot Mobile lost 21,000 subscribers, while Golan lost only 15,000, meaning that Golan came out on top in net gains. Keep in mind, however, that Hot Mobile is also losing Mirs's subscribers, so it is unclear how many subscribers the company really lost.

Cellcom lost the most subscribers among the older companies, despite the bargain cellular package costing zero shekels for children up to age 14, accompanied by a television campaign, which failed to halt the movement of subscribers away from Cellcom. If the public did not respond to an offer at zero shekels a month, it probably signals a crisis in the cellular market that will take a long time to heal. Partner managed to cut its subscriber losses through an aggressive campaign of bargains through 012 Mobile, but precise figures are lacking. Pelephone's relative success in stanching its loss of subscribers is attributable to the company's bargain campaign through marketers offering very low prices that are not always the same as the prices offered by the company's call centers.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 1, 2014

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