10,000 quit Pelephone after breakdown
Israeli mobile carrier Pelephone Communications Ltd., a subsidiary of Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd., has paid a price for the breakdown in its network in September: the company has lost 10,000 subscribers.
Churn figures for last month show that Pelephone’s negative churn rate (subscribers joining minus subscribers leaving) was highest just after the breakdowns occurred; all things considered it was moderate, and it seems that the flight by subscribers because of the incident has run its course.
The assessment in the telephony market was that Pelephone would pay some price, since the breakdown continued for several days, but Israeli consumers apparently understand by now that technical faults sometimes occur on networks, and as long as they believe that the company takes care to report transparently and compensates its customers fairly for the disruption in service, it will not lose credit and they will not rush to leave.
Xfone’s We4G continued to lead subscriber recruitment in the mobile sector in September, adding a net 6,800 subscribers. The company’s subscriber recruitment rate is in line with its projections, and it is sticking to its marketing strategy with a small number of attractive subscription plans that are doing the job.
Rami Levy Communications, which created a lot of buzz in the market with its special NIS 1 per month mobile package offer, did well last month, attracting 2,000 new subscribers. It will be interesting to see whether the company manages to maintain the same subscriber recruitment rate this month or reverts back to its regular rate.
Partner Communications Ltd. managed to switch to a modestly positive churn rate in September, after deciding in the past few months that it would no longer compete for customers whom it sees as influenced by price only. Partner recruited 1,100 subscribers net last month, while rival Cellcom Israel Ltd. recruited just 400, and Hot Mobile had a negative churn rate of 1,100 subscribers. Golan Telecom maintained a positive rate, with 600 additional subscribers, while 019 Mobile gained 1,400.
(Globes/TNS)