NetVision is the largest Internet provider in Israel, according to a comprehensive market survey of Israel’s Internet market conducted in recent months at the initiative of market research company IDC Israel. The survey findings are published here for the first time.
Details reaching "Globes" show that the number of NetVision registered subscribers (excluding occasional subscribers) represents half of all Internet subscribers in Israel (private and corporate). The market share of Golden Internet, ranked in second place, totals only 26%. The figure does not exclude occasional subscribers.
On July 1, 1998, NetVision had 130,000 registered subscribers, compared to 70,000 for Golden Internet. IDC received the numbers from the companies for the survey, and verified them from its own sources.
IDC estimates that the number of subscribers registered with Internet providers at the beginning of ’98 was 180,000 regular, and another 70,000 occasional subscribers, making a total of 250,000.
At the end of the first half of ’98, there were 360,000 Internet users in Israel. Expectations for the end of ’98 are 440,000 users, and for mid ’99 - 520,000. These figures show a decline in growth from 28% in the first half of ’98 (for the half year) to 22% in the second half of the year, and 18% in the first half of ’99.
The occasional subscribers represent a large and important share of the Israeli Internet market. They include students, academic staff, those who hook up to the Internet via the 135 service, and a large audience of thousands of potential users hooked up through closed communities, such as kibbutzim, which theoretically enable each member to hook up to the Internet via the kibbutz communications network.
Published by Israel's Business Arena November 22, 1998