A NIS 182.5 million lawsuit has been filed with the Jerusalem District Court against three Israeli cellular provides: Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR; LSE:PCCD), and MIRS Communications Ltd. by three people who claim to be subscribers of the defendants. The plaintiffs claim that the defendants charge their subscribers for SMS messages sent by them to subscribers who chose to disable receipt of SMS messages and/or mislead the senders by an indication on their cellular phones that such messages were sent. The plaintiffs have asked the lawsuit to be certified as a class-action suit.
In 2005, cellular operates began marketing handsets, nicknamed “kosher phones” to the haredi (ultra-orthodox) community. These cellular telephones had a special prefix, which blocked SMS messages and could not be used to surf the Internet.
The petitioners claim that the cellular operators are charging them for SMS messages sent, but which they cannot receive. The plaintiffs say that they receive notices about an incoming SMS, and are charged for an SMS message is NIS 0.45 - even though they cannot read the messages.
The plaintiffs claim that even though the operators know full well that they - as kosher subscribers - cannot receive SMS messages, the operators are not blocking the SMS service as Pele-Phone Communications Ltd. has done.
The plaintiffs claim that the operators are misleading them in two ways: first, by notifying them that an SMS message has been received when it has not, and second, by charging them for the service.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on September 23, 2007
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