Partner wants joint mobile network with rivals

Partner VP engineering Eyal Iluz: Mobile carriers need more frequencies to meet demand for LTE and Wi-Fi.

31 January 13 16:16, Gad Perez

Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) wants to establish a joint mobile network with other carriers, Partner VP engineering Eyal Iluz said at the Israel Mobile & Media Association(IMA) 4G Israel Conference in Tel Aviv today. This is the first time that Partner has made such a statement publicly.Iluz said that mobile carriers needed more frequencies to meet demand for LTE and Wi-Fi. He said that Partner had upgraded its network to make it the fastest network in the country, but that the industry needed more frequencies regardless of the need to permit carriers to shares antennas.

Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) CTO Eliezer (Lipa) Ogman said that the carrier had already conducted 4G tests with its two vendors, Ericsson AB (NYSE; OMX: ERIC) and Nokia Siemens Networks. He said that 90% of the carriers’ antennas were linked to its independent transmission, giving it an important financial edge over its rivals, which spend at least 50% more on transmission through Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ).

Ogman added that 4G was more important to provide capacity than speed. He said that 3G can have speeds similar to 4G, but that this depends on the number of frequencies allocated.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on January 31, 2013

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