Hot Mobile recruitment slows sharply

The carrier recruited only 4,937 net new subscribers in May, a fifth of its recruitment rate in January.

2 June 13 15:36, Gad Perez

Hot Mobile Ltd. recruited a net 4,937 new subscribers in May 2013, and its chances of meeting its target of 1.5 million subscribers are shrinking. New carrier rival Golan Telecom Ltd. topped the recruitment charts in May, with 12,371 net new subscribers. mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Youphone Ltd.was in third place, with 3,137 net new subscribers.Despite Hot Mobile’s aggressive new campaign of NIS 49 per month for four months, there has been a steady decline in its recruitment since CEO Yaakov Nadvorani left the company in January. Its recruitment fell from 25,000 net new subscribers in January to fewer than 5,000 in May. Another reason for the drop in recruitment is restructuring at the carrier, which have included numerous layoffs, including of sales and service employees, and its move from Airport City to Yakum.

Hot Mobile has also apparently failed to bring together mobile and Internet services, despite the launch of 100-megabit Internet access by its parent company, Hot Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT.B1) for a few shekels a month. The company will reportedly find it difficult to restore its pace of 20,000-30,000 net new subscribers a month.

Among the veteran carriers, Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) subsidiary Pelephone Communications Ltd. topped the churn rate for the third consecutive month, losing 9,051 subscribers in May. Orange franchisee Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) lost 7,361 subscribers, and Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) lost 2,283.

Among the MVNOs, Rami Levy Communications lost 1,896 subscribers in May. Rami Levy Chain Stores Hashikma Marketing 2006 Ltd’s (TASE:RMLI) efforts to sell mobile devices may be an attempt to keep afloat its MVNO unit in face of the loss of subscribers.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news – www.globes-online.com – on June 2, 2013

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2013