Pele-Phone has turned the clock back three years. It has launched a new plan that includes a fixed NIS 49 monthly fee.
The new plan is an opening shot to change existing plans and raise prices in the wireless market in March, following the Ministry of Communications decision to cut inter-network connection charges.
Wireless operators used to charge a fixed fee, but the practice vanished when Partner Communications (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR; LSE: PCCD) entered the market. The fixed fee guarantees revenue for the operator, regardless of use. Market competition killed the fixed fee, because consumers preferred plans without monthly obligations.
Pele-Phone is launching a NIS 3.5 million ad campaign that offers a uniform NIS 0.49 rate per minute to all networks, the lowest rate on the market. The deal does, however, include a NIS 49 fixed monthly fee.
Cellcom recently launched a pilot program with a fixed monthly fee of NIS 30 and NIS 0.30 per minute interconnect charge. The public resisted the plan, and it was dropped.
Cellcom and Partner will presumably start charging fixed fees next month, but at a much lower rate of about NIS 10 per month.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on February 2, 2005