مجموعة الاتصلات » IEC

IEC proposes 4G in 2 years

ola — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 07:35:59 +0000

IEC will deploy a low-cost 4G network using the grid and

fiber optic venture

Sources inform ”Globes” that Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE:ELEC.B22) proposes to build a 4G network over its infrastructure within two years. IEC CEO Eli Glickman outlined the proposal to Ministry of Communications director general Avi Berger. The proposal has been coordinated with the fiber optic venture, in which IEC owns a 40% stake.

Glickman told Berger that IEC was ready and able to offer the electricity grid for the venture, and that the venture would solve the shortage of 4G frequencies. He described the company’s 4,400-kilometer grid of high-tension power lines, 27,000-kilometer distribution grid, and more than 400,000 utility poles, which could be used. He added that IEC had experience in providing the electricity infrastructure for telecommunications purposes and that 170 mobile base stations were already based on its grid.

Glickman said that the grid infrastructure was the basis for the IBC fiber optic venture, and that active site sharing would allow rapid and inexpensive deployment of 4G nationwide without fear of harming competition. He said this was the best of all alternatives.

IEC is offering active sharing of the mobile access network on the electricity grid, an access network which would serve all mobile carriers. The 4G frequencies spectrum would be allocated to the access network operator, rather than to the carriers, achieving efficient exploitation of the spectrum. It added that it could offer a massive deployment of tens of thousands of small base stations (antennas) over its distribution grid. These antennas would fit on utility poles and improve indoor reception while reducing the public’s exposure to radiation.

Glickman said that the proposal would slash set-up costs, which would be shared by everyone, while IBC would be responsible for control and management. He said that the first sites could be made available within a year and nationwide deployment via IBC could be completed within two years.

Glickman confirmed that he is promoting this initiative, which has been submitted to Berger, and that a meeting had been held. He declined to elaborate.

IEC to file NIS 4b suit against Siemens, partners

ola — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 07:57:13 +0000

Siemens, Alstom, and ABB were part of the gas insulated

switchgear cartel, which allegedly fixed wins in 50 IEC projects.

Sources inform ”Globes” that Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE:ELEC.B22) is preparing to sue Siemens AG (NYSE: SI; DAX: SIE) and its partners in the gas insulated switchgear (GIS) cartel for NIS 4 billion. The amount is more than double preliminary estimates by IEC, after its meticulous checks found that the damage caused by the cartel was much greater than initially thought.

IEC will file the suit against Germany’s Siemens, France’s Alstom SA (Euronext: ALO), and Swiss-Swedish ABB Group AG (NYSE; OMX: ABB; SXZ: ABBN) in a few weeks, after the amount of damage is finalized. Siemens, one of IEC’s major suppliers, will be at the center of the lawsuit, which will also name Alstom and ABB. IEC has not yet decided whether to name the Japanese members of the GIS cartel, since the Antitrust Authority report on the case does not mention them.

Legal experts told “Globes” that the respondents will argue that the statute of limitation applies to the case. They note that only a few suits have been filed against the cartel’s members in Europe to date, possibly due to worries about countersuits or the success of out-of-court settlements. The damage the cartel caused utilities in Europe and around the world is estimated in the billions of euros.

The path to sue Siemens and its cartel partners opened in September, when Antitrust Authority director general David Gilo declared that there was a cartel in electricity infrastructures between 1988 and 2004. He ruled that this cartel, which was part of a global cartel in gas insulated switchgear affected the Israeli market, especially prices paid by IEC, which were passed on to consumers. Gas insulated switchgear is a critical component in protecting high and very high-voltage transmission lines from radical changes in voltage.

Gilo found that, between November 1988 and June 1999, the GIS cartel fixed wins in at least 50 projects in Israel, all of them for IEC. Gilo’s ruling means that the parties affected by the cartel can sue for damages in court on the basis of the ruling.

IEC today announced that an electricity consumer group has filed a NIS 2.7 billion lawsuit against the utility and the GIS cartel with the Central District Court with a request to recognize the suit as a class-action suit. Of the claim, IEC is being sued for NIS 412.5 million, for rolling the overpricing by the cartel on to consumers.

IEC workers to own 10% of fiber optic venture

ola — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 07:24:49 +0000

Israel Electric Corp. owns 40% of IBC, the venture that will

deploy a nationwide fiber to the home network.

Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) employees will receive 10% of the fiber optic venture in which the utility is a partner, under a deal between IEC’s management and union. Sources inform ”Globes” that IEC’s board of directors was supposed to discuss the issue, but that it was dropped from the agenda, after the director representing the Government Companies Authority objected.

IEC owns 40% of IBC, the venture that will deploy a nationwide fiber to the home network. Sweden’s ViaEuropa AB and a consortium of Israeli companies owns the rest of IBC.

The sources said that in the talks between IEC’s management and workers committee, it was agreed that employees would receive 15% of IEC’s stake in IBC for free (amounting to 6% of IBC), and that they can buy up to another 10% of IEC’s stake (4% of IBC) at its economic value.

IEC needs the full participation of its employees for the fiber optic venture to materialize. Among other things, it plans to hire for the venture 150 employees who will work under a special collective agreement, the terms of which have not yet been settled in full. IEC also plans to transfer scores of tenured employees to IBC to carry out additional work for it in addition to their regular jobs.

Allotting IBC shares to IEC employees is intended to promise their cooperation and give them an incentive to work for IBC’s success. Previous talks between IEC’s management and employees had discussed giving the employees 15% of future business development subsidiaries, which were never established because of government objections.

If IEC’s employees gain a stake in IBC it will set a precedent in the 90-year old utility and at government companies in general. The allotment of shares to employees had been discussed in negotiations of reforms at IEC and atAshdod Port Company Ltd. and Haifa Port Company Ltd..