The Ministry of Communications has ordered Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) to stop blocking Internet applications such as VoIP to its customers.

The ministry gave a reprimand to Cellcom and said that it had checked the cellular company's contracts with its customers that require infrastructure services and Internet access and it found that as of the end of January 2010, subscribers were prevented from using certain applications such as VoIP, in violation of Ministry of Communications instructions.

Ministry director general Edan Bar Tal stressed that according to Cellcom's license Internet access requires all online services are provided for.

In late afternoon trading on the TASE, Cellcom's share was down 0.2% to NIS 125.90. On Friday the share closed at $33.84 on Nasdaq, giving a market cap of $3.33 billion.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on February 22, 2010

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