Hot Mobile Ltd.) and Golan Telecom Ltd. have decided on a "ceasefire" in the cellular market price war. They have ended their recent new bargains that led tens of thousands of subscribers to abandon the veteran companies and switch to the newer ones.
In January, Hot Mobile offered a "couples bargain", in which the company sold two lines for NIS 40 a month per cellular package for one year. Golan Telecom offered a second line for NIS 2 per month if the customer buys the first line for NIS 37, up to six lines. Both companies extended their bargains until last Thursday, in view of strong demand from customers, and completely halted the bargains at the beginning of this week.
As reported in "Globes" in mid-January, the two companies' bargains shook up the market, with tens of thousands of subscribers switching from the veteran cellular companies to the two new players.
Now that the bargains have ended, the veteran companies' shares have leaped upwards, with the Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) shares jumping up to 12.5%, after losing double-digit percentages of their value in recent months.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 3, 2015
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2015