"Bezeq's position is that there is nothing in the way of the selection process for an international call operator to supply international call card services to Bezeq Card holders," Bezeq general manager Ilan Biran today notified Ministry of Communications director general Ure Olenek.
Olenek had appealed to Bezeq in the matter of a tender it intends to offer to international call operators, to select one to provide international call services to Bezeq Card service users.
Biran said the Ministry of Communications' demand to cease the tender process came only days before the bid submission deadline, although the ministry knew of the tender process for several months.
Bezeq Card is the company's phone card. It is activated through a code allowing card holders to use any telephone in Israel or overseas, post-paid to the holder's account. When the international calls market was opened to competition on July 1, 1997, Bezeq was forbidden to operate in it.
Bezeq Card continued to operate as an international phone card, excuse is it also a local phone card. Bezeq's three competitors in the international calls market (Golden Lines, Barak and Bezeq International) agreed that Bezeq Card international calls would go through them, according to the customer's choice.
As a result of the agreement, a situation was created in which each company had its own international phone card, while handling Bezeq Card calls as well. International call companies Golden Lines and Barak claim that Bezeq's tender for international services for Bezeq Card holders violates its license.
The tender was offered in early September and the submission date was November. In light of the Ministry of Communications request, Bezeq postponed submissions indefinitely but did not cancel the tender process. The company is now waiting for the Ministry of Communications to set a date for a hearing.
Bezeq claims that even if its position is not accepted at the hearing, the ministry does not have the authority to interfere in the tender process. In a position paper submitted to the Ministry of Communications, Bezeq expresses astonishment at the ministry's intervention in a situation wherein Bezeq Card consumers are required to pay high prices for international call service, preventing Bezeq from acting on behalf of consumers, and promoting competition in the international call market.
No comment was available from the Ministry of Communications at web-posting time.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 05 November 2001