Haaretz 15-9-2014

Pelephone losing most in cellphone wars

Pelephone, the wireless unit of Bezeq, is emerging as the biggest loser as cellular users change suppliers in the wake of the 2012 cellular revolution, said Ori Licht, telecommunications analyst at IBI Israel Brokerage & Investments, in a report issued yesterday. Although the shakeup happened more than two years ago, many subscribers are still changing providers and, in fact, the pace has accelerated since the start of the year to 201,000 a month. Licht said Pelephone had suffered the biggest drop in average revenue per user, or ARPU, among the three veteran cellular companies, with an 8 shekel ($2.20) decline, compared with 6 shekels for Partner Communications and just 3 for Cellcom Israel. Pelephone is also losing the most subscribers, he said. Shares of Bezeq climbed 0.9% to end at 6.97 shekels in Tel Aviv. (Amitai Ziv)