Hertzel Ozer is stepping down as chairman of HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT) after 6.5 years with the company, five of them as CEO. Ozer intends to work with Patrick Drahi’s Altice on social projects in Israel. Drahi controls Hot.

Ozer will receive a severance payment of NIS 5.6 million “reflecting all the sums and perquisites due to him under the agreement he signed with Hot, including a six-month adaptation period payment, and excluding annual bonuses for 2015 and 2016 and a long-term grant for 2015-2016 that Mr. Ozer has foregone,” the company said.

The Hot board said that Ozer had made a substantial personal contribution to the success of the company and its prosperity, and had brought the company closer to ist goals.

Ozer said, “I had the privilege of leading the company together with its excellent management in an extremely complex process and in difficult conditions, while turning into Israel’s leading telecommunications group. I thank the owner, Patrick Drahi, for the confidence he placed in me the whole way, and I am proud of having the opportunity of continuing to work with him on further projects.”

Drahi said, “I am very grateful to Hertzel, an outstanding professional, for his impressive work in the company.”