Cellcom decided to close its airport store because most customers buy international calls packages in advance at the company's service centers.
Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) has notified the Israel Airport Authority that it will close its store at the passengers hall at Ben Gurion Airport's Terminal 3. The move follows last week's announcement by Pelephone Communications Ltd. that it will close its airport store.
Cellcom decided to close its airport store because most customers buy international calls packages in advance at the company's service centers. Consequently, the airport store is increasingly unnecessary, and departing passengers ignore it. Cellcom's rental contract for the store expires next month, which is also the case for Pelephone. Both companies are updating their customers about the closing.
In contrast to Pelephone, which decided to close its airport store after over half its customers have already switched to the new UMTS network, few Cellcom customers still use its obsolete TDMA network, so the airport store ought to have been closed long ago.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 25, 2010
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2010