This undertaking forms part of the cable TV companies' tug-of-war with Minister of Communications Binyamin Ben-Eliezer over the content arrangement with DBS.
The cable television companies have given Minister of Communications Binyamin Ben-Eliezer an undertaking: when the communications market is opened up to competition, and a consolidated cable TV company is formed, that company will within two years provide inland telephony services at prices 50% lower than the price Bezeq charges today. The companies also undertake to hook up all kindergartens and schools to the Internet free of charge.
The undertaking was published today, on presentation to the court of the agreement for setting up a consolidated company. The companies also announced that they would attract foreign investments and themselves invest hundreds of millions of dollars in advanced communications infrastructure. The expansion of their activities, the companies say, will result in thousands of new employees being hired for upgrading the communications infrastructure throughout Israel, and in connecting the periphery to the centre.
The cable companies timed their announcement in such a way that it would hopefully influence Ben-Eliezer, who is currently negotiating a content arrangement based on the cable companies being constrained to sell content to the YES DBS satellite company. While the cable companies' promises are not known to be based on detailed plans, they do possess public importance.
Published by Israel's Business Arena December 30, 1999