"Pele-Phone is suffering from large inroads into its market share by Partner and Cellcom, but I presume that within a short time the company will overcome it. I hope that it will take as long as possible for them to return to the competitive arena of cellular telephony," Cellcom vice president said recently, while addressing a kibbutz association convention.
Most said, "If we feared the market was saturated and the third provider Partner would ruin it, we are actually benefiting from the entry of a new provider, and the market is stepping up a rank. The myth of Pele-Phone’s qualitative edge has been shattered."
According to Most, since Partner entered the market, the rate of new customers joining Cellcom’s network has risen. In the past six months, 30,000 new customers have been joining every month. Cellcom currently has 1.1 million customers.
Most said that Cellcom has a situation in which it has more strategic-business customers than its competitors. "Partner took customers mainly from Pele-Phone, with only a few from Cellcom."
Most added that the company has recently been facing a problem of cellular telephone shortages, but ultimately manages to meet all the demand. "In fact, we are unable to match all the business opportunities the company encounters, and Partner has the same problem."
Pele-Phone responded by saying that, according to a recent survey by Shiluv Surveys and Research it had commissioned, 60% of Partner’s new customers who were veteran cellular telephone users, had come from Cellcom. Only 40% came from Pele-Phone.
Pele-Phone declined to respond to other comments by Most relating to Pele-Phone.
Published by Israel's Business Arena April 5, 1999