Posts tagged ‘Telecom Industry’

Israel – Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Israel has a very competitive telecommunications market with one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the world and also one of the highest household broadband penetration rates. This report introduces the key aspects of the market with statistics and analysis; it overviews the key regulatory issues affecting Israel’s telecom industry in some detail. The nature of competition in the market is changing and the advent of VoIP, triple play strategies and the new digital media puts particular focus on the details of regulation. The recommendations of the Gronau Commission are likely to cause further regulatory changes in the near future.

( http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Israel-Telecoms-Mobile-and-Broadband.html )

Israel has very competitive fixed-line voice, broadband and digital media market sectors. Bezeq has retained the vast majority of the domestic fixed-line voice services, but new licences being granted for VoIP service provision are beginning to shake up the market. Partner, Netvision, Xfone and Bezeq International had all acquired VoIP licences and had begun providing competitive domestic telephone services by early 2009. The International fixed-line voice market is already very competitive and recent mergers have created strong players. Market competition is fierce, both between cable and DSL infrastructures and between ISPs. Competition is also fierce between Bezeq’s satellite TV subsidiary YES and cable TV operator HOT. Israel’s very high broadband penetration rate provides great potential for triple play and digital media developments and competitors are manoeuvring for positions.

Israel’s mobile communications market is one of the most competitive in the region, with four operators in a saturated market. The difficulties of growth through new customer acquisitions and voice tariff competition have led the operators to focus on mobile data, regularly launching new value-added products and extending their offerings to provide bundled services including fixed-line. Third generation services have been launched by the three major operators and subscriber numbers are significant. Success in selling mobile content and applications is essential to combat falling ARPU.

Key highlights:· Infrastructure investment by the mobile operators in 3G and HSPA is having an impact. Cellcom has flagged its intention to build its own infrastructure to be operational by the time its contract with Bezeq runs out in 2010.

· Pelephone launched its 3.5G HSPA network in February 2009, after investing NIS1 billion and by April there were over 200,000 subscribers on the new network.

· Bezeq’s share of the domestic fixed-line voice market has now fallen to below the magic 85% figure. Bezeq is awaiting the promised licence amendments and has applied to the Ministry of Communications for a VoIP permit. Bezeq reportedly aims to migrate all its fixed-line subscribers to VoIP by 2014.

· Bezeq has begun the rollout of its NGN with a pilot in Ness Ziona, Kiron and Rishon LeZion and plans to complete the nationwide rollout by 2013. In June 2009, the operator had migrated 100,000 of its existing subscribers to the new network which provides speeds of up to 15Mb/s.

· In February 2009, a proposed merger between Bezeq and YES was approved by the Restricted Trade Practices Tribunal, with conditions which will cause a further shift in the telecommunications landscape if the merger goes ahead. The conditions include a requirement for Bezeq to unbundle its NGN to make it available to other operators and a requirement to keep YES on the air.

· In addition to a competitive FTA TV market, the majority of the Israeli population subscribe to cable or satellite TV, mostly digital. Both HOT and DBS satellite TV operator YES offer PVRs and HOT also offers VoD services.

 Contact us at :

  

 Bharat Book Bureau

 Tel: +91 22 27578668

 Fax: +91 22 27579131

 Email: info@bharatbook.com

 Website: www.bharatbook.com

 Blog: http://bharatbookresearch.blogspot.com

If your small business were a grocery store or automotive mechanic shop, most every lender in the U.S. would immediately understand your business model. If you were to approach them looking for a line of credit, they would be able to rather quickly determine if your business is able to receive some small business financing from them or not. However, as the owner of a telecommunications company you know that this is not always the case for your industry. Traditional lenders just simply do not understand how telecom companies do business and the intracacies of telecommunications funding.

If you are a large multi-national telecom company, funding abounds for you just simply because of the huge amount of revenue your business generates month after month. However, if you are a small telecom business, obtaining that line of credit can be much more difficult. When you approach a traditional lender for funding, you will likely find that they do not understand your business model and telecommunications financing in general. It is not in the traditional banker’s interest to work with telecommunications businesses with receivables that are all small amounts with many customers. Generally, your receivables take 45 or more days to receive after delivery of services. Because these billing issues are unique to the telecom industry, traditional lenders do not fully comprehend the fine details and tend to choose to deal with businesses in more traditional roles.

Once your small telecommunications business is on solid ground, and you are looking to expand your market base, there are three options readily availablec to you for obtaining small business financing. These three options are: factoring, asset based solutions, and investment capital. Let’s take a quick look at each of these options:

Factoring: Factoring is a financing process which allows your company to borrow money against its receivables; your receivables are used as the collateral for the loan. The down side to traditional factoring is that this type of funding generally comes with high interest rates. By finding a lender with telecommunications financing experience, you can sometimes find a lower rate. This makes factoring a strong consideration only if you are able to locate a specialized lender with telecommunications financing experience.

Asset Based Solutions: Asset based funding solutions involve using your existing contracts, equipment, and other assets, as the collateral for your funding. This can be a good option to consider if you have a lot of assets or large contracts to leverage. However, if you own a very small local telecom company, your company may not have the assets or contracts to make this form of funding work. In that case, investment capital may be a good option to consider.

Investment Capital: If your business is open to the idea of investment capital, versus a traditional line of credit, investment capital can be a win-win situation for everyone.

While finding small business financing can be challenging in the telecommunications industry, it is not impossible. When it is time for your small telecom company to expand you should consider factoring, asset based solutions, and investment capital as possible options. Whatever your decision may be, as long as it fits within your long-term business plans, then you are sure to succeed.