Mobility data for October 2013 show a small revival by Hot Mobile Ltd., after months of stagnation in the recruitment of new subscribers. However, its recruitment rate is still far below the rate of rival Golan Telecom Ltd., which again had the largest monthly rate of new subscribers recruitment. It should be remembered, however, that Golan Telecom is still offering new subscribers no charge for three months, boosting its recruitment rate.
Hot Mobile recruited a net 5,000 new subscribers in October, an improvement on the past few months in which it had a net loss of subscribers. The carrier launched focused recruitment campaigns to different segments, which boosted it back to second place, ousting mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) YouPhone, which had held the ranking for several months.
Hot Mobile's churn rate is still serious; although it recruited almost the same number of new subscribers as Golan Telecom, it has double the churn rate of the latter. Hot Mobile's poor service is apparently to blame.
Golan Telecom recruited a net new 12,000 subscribers in October, and is on track to reach its end-of-year target of 375,000 subscribers, which is why it is keeping its three months for free campaign. On the other hand, the carriers lost 8,000 paying subscribers, although it recruited 20,000 new non-paying subscribers, which means that it is losing money on each new subscriber.
Among the veteran carriers, Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) had the lowest churn rate in October (2,500 subscribers) and Pelephone Communications Ltd. and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) both had a net loss of subscribers: 6,000 and 10,000, respectively. Cellcom's loss of subscribers is casting a shadow over its 12-month fixed line for free campaign, which is aimed at customer retention and recruitment. The numbers indicate that the campaign is not working.
The October data clearly show little movement among subscribers, who are not influenced by the carriers' campaigns. In other words, the mobile market is no longer seeing the movement of tens of thousands of subscribers between carriers, as was the case in the past year.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 3, 2013
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