Teletiv, which sells cellular handset guarantees to Cellcom and Pele-Phone, has asked the Tel Aviv district court to order Cellcom to allow linking Teletiv subscribers, whose handset has been stolen or lost, to Cellcom’s network through a Teletiv agent.
According to Teletiv, Cellcom is unlawfully trying to make it difficult for Teletiv subscribers to receive guarantee services for Teletiv’s cellular handsets. Cellcom’s alleged objective is to induce its subscribers to buy cellular handsets and handset guarantees only from Cellcom - at exorbitant prices that are three times as much as the price demanded by Teletiv.
Part of the services Teletiv offers its subscribers is linking a new handset to Cellcom’s network if their handset is stolen, lost, or destroyed. This operation is called "instrument crossing", meaning that cellular handsets not bought from Cellcom are linked to Cellcom’s network.
Through lawyer Mordechai Shalev, Teletiv argued that Cellcom’s service stations had been issued with an internal instruction not to enable instrument crossing through an agent, and the instruction was being applied only to Cellcom subscribers who did not buy a guarantee for their handsets from Cellcom.
Teletiv claims that Cellcom is making aggressive and flagrant use of its monopoly status by charging the exorbitant price of NIS 561 a year from its subscribers for guarantee services. According to Teletiv, Cellcom charges its customers more than NIS 500 a year only for these services.
Published by Israel's Business Arena September 22, 1999