The planned cooperation between Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) and the Ministry of Communications announced yesterday by Ministry of Communications director general Shlomo Filber is already materializing. Sources inform "Globes" that Bezeq has selected Modi'in as its first site for a trial of the new technology for bringing high-speed (500 megabytes/second) Internet to private homes. The trial involves even faster speeds, but it appears that the company's initial goal is to provide speeds up to 500 Mgb/second.
The new technology, G.fast, facilitates speeds of up to 1 gigabyte per second for private homes, depending on the distance between the switch and the home. At the same time, the operators who have begun installing the technology are not offering the maximum speed in the initial stage, so it is unclear just what Bezeq will decide.
The Bezeq marketing department has begun formulating its marketing concept, with the aim of launching the service in the coming months, or at the latest in the second half of the year. At this point, the trial is taking place in cooperation with Alcatel-Lucent, and it is likely that Bezeq will try to introduce other providers with which it already works, such as Adtran, in the future.
The Ministry of Communications yesterday announced that it intended to grant Bezeq and Hot Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT.B1) benefits in exchange for infrastructure investments. This will switch the emphasis from competition in the landline market to infrastructure investments.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 6, 2016
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