The international phone calls crisis was Limor Livnat’s first real crisis as Minister of Communications or as a minister at all. She weathered it bravely and resolutely, preserving her principles and the principles of liberalization and a competitive market.
If the crisis hadn’t occurred, Livnat would have had to ask for one in order to prove her strength under fire. This strength will prove an important asset when the real battles begin over the implementation of the Wachs-Brodet-Leon recommendations on opening the entire communications market to competition.
Livnat did two things which amazed that market and the parties involved. She used the Restraint of Trade Commission against Bezeq International and explicitly threatened to reopen Bezeq’s financial strength agreement, worth more than NIS 3 billion to Bezeq, if the company didn’t live up to its end of the bargain.
And Bezeq, it doesn’t matter if it was the employees or management, breached the agreement and prevented the beginning of competition. Livnat made it clear she would wait no longer than a matter of days. The decision to delay the beginning of competition by a few days allowed tempers to cool and eventually achieved the goal: complete separation, as required by Bezeq’s license, between the parent company and the subsidiary. Bezeq International can argue with the Ministry of Communications, but Bezeq must live up to its obligations.
Livnat invested day and night in the crisis and came out of it stronger and clearly appreciated by industry professionals. When she entered the ministry a year ago, she virtually received the liberalization process on a silver platter and had only to push it forward. The tender for the opening of the international communications market was already well under way, as was the debate in the Wachs-Brodet Committee. But this time, the crisis was all hers, as was the victory.
And no less importantly: in this crisis, Livnat’s two senior-most appointments, Ministry of Communications director-general and Bezeq general manager, proved themselves incontrovertibly successful. Against the backdrop of the unsuccessful appointments made by the cabinet in which she sits, this fact is extremely conspicuous, emphasizing the industry’s interest that Limor Livnat not leave the cabinet for political reasons unconnected with the communications field.