Three new operators in Israel
 

Three new operators announced starting their operations in Israel yesterday and today. Unfortunately, so far none have prepaid plans.

The first was the MVNO YouPhone connected to the "You" customer loyalty club. Based on Cellcom's network it will start selling SIM cards at the MEGA supermarket chain and "Alonit" convenience shop at Dor-Alon gas stations.

The two other operators are traditional networks offering very cheap postpaid packages:

Golan Telecom will operate a 3G2100 network covering a small part of the country, with national roaming on the Cellcom network. An unlimited voice, text and surfing costs NIS 99 (EUR 20).

Hot Mobile, a subsidiary of the Hot cable communications company will operate a similar network, with national roaming on the Pelephone network. a similar unlimited package will cost NIS 89 (EUR 18 ).

Several more MVNO's are expected to launch within a few weeks. I hope to updete when operations will commence

What triggered all these new offerings? Was there some sort of a regulatory change?

The anwer is positive.

Israel had three opertors - Pelephone was the first company to offer very expensive cellular services, Cellcom made cellphones affordable in 1995 and Orange was the first company to use the GSM technology with roaming and SMS in 1999, and was very successful due to exceptional costomer service.
Since 1999 there was no new operator, and despite regulatory changes personal cellular expenses gradually became very high with the companies using ingenious ways to circumvent the regulations.

In 2010 the first MVNO licenced were granted, but most companies failed on financial grounds, and the first MVNO (Rami Levi) went on air only in December 2010, attracting several tens of thousands customers by simple and cheap pricing.

A bid for two UMTS bands was concluded in spring of 2011, with conditions forcing very aggressive pricing. In addition, the newcomers have to compete in a market with about 140% penetration. We saw the results in yesterday's announcements.