Cellcom quarterly loss widens

Losses at Israel’s largest mobile phone operator, Cellcom, widened in the third quarter, it said Monday, blaming a drop in revenue from roaming services due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Cellcom reported a loss of NIS 37m., or 7 cents per share, for the third quarter, versus a NIS 2m., or $ 0.003, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 3% to NIS 956m., with service revenue down 2% to NIS 695m. The decline was offset by a rise in equipment sales.

The results, it said, included the consolidation of smaller rival Golan Telecom, which it bought in August.

CFO Shai Amsalem blamed the profit decline on COVID- 19, which “caused a sharp decline in roaming revenues from our customers traveling abroad and tourists arriving in Israel.”

Cellcom, which recently received a 5G license, said its cellular subscriber base jumped 32% in the quarter to 3.641 million from 2.767 million a year earlier due to it gaining Golan customers. The number of customers to its TV service rose 1.6% to 251,000.

The company said it was growing its fiber optics network and now has 80,000 customers, and was working with cable company HOT as partners in the Israel Broadband Company – which has 500,000 households connected – to accelerate fiber network deployment.

“The wide deployment will transform Cellcom Israel from a company that relies on the fixed network of others to a partner in an extensive and independent infrastructure,” said Chief Executive Avi Gabbay, referring mainly to Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group. ( Reuters)