In a joint engineering effort by Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL), Cellcom has shifted all Cellcom TV subscribers to a multicast configuration on Bezeq's network. At this stage, Cellcom is moving three television channels to this configuration. The switch will save Cellcom money on data transmission on the Bezeq network, and greatly strengthens the connection and cooperation between the two telecommunications carriers.
Switching to multicast distribution means that Cellcom is moving its broadcasts to one concentration point at Bezeq, and Bezeq is distributing the broadcast to all of its communications cabinets.
In the new format, Cellcom pays Bezeq a single payment for the entire operation, while the previous unicast broadcasting configuration, i.e. specific distribution to a communications cabinet, and from there to the end consumer), required separate payment for each subscribers.
Cellcom will broadcast the Reshet 12, Reshet 13, and Sports Channel (55) channels in the new configuration. These channels probably account for most of the traffic among subscribers.
With the price structure in Bezeq's wholesale market, it pays for companies to switch to a multicast format at a certain level of customer traffic.
Beyond that, however, the agreement with Bezeq in effect means that Cellcom prefers working on Bezeq's network to that of HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT). With Hot, transmission prices are higher, so the choice of the multicast configuration, a difficult and long-term engineering project, indicates that Cellcom's strategy is to focus on Bezeq's wholesale market, while also investing in the IBC fiber-optics network on Israel Electric Corporation's infrastructure.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 25, 2019
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2019