A vibrant wholesale market will enable Israeli communications firms to remain possible despite falling consumer revenues, the chairman of country’s largest telco says.
Shaul Elovitch, chairman of Bezeq, says the telecoms market in the country changed profoundly in 2012 due to intensifying competition. He predicts reform of the wholesale market will continue that trend, delivering more integrated services for consumers at attractive price points.
“Concurrently, communications companies will be able to profit from the wholesale market thanks to streamlining processes and the creation of synergy among the various operators,” Elovitch states.
The chairman made the comments as Bezeq revealed its annual net profit fell 10.1% year-on-year to 1.8 billion Shekels (€375 million) in 2012, following a similar (9.6%) decline in revenue during the year.
David Mizrahi, chief financial officer and deputy chief executive at the firm, noted Bezeq enjoyed strong cash generation in 2012, and that careful management had minimized the fall in profit relative to revenues for the year. “Despite intensified competition, the moderate erosion in profitability was partially mitigated by our success in instituting streamlining processes across the group.”