Communications Minister Moshe Kachlon announced Thursday that the network connection fees cellphone companies can charge are to fall by 73% beginning January 1, 2011, to NIS 6.87 agurot per minute. By 2015, that fee will be 5 agurot per minute. Cellphone companies charge the fee to customers who make calls to customers in other cell networks, and it is a significant part of the per-minute cost of such inter-network calls. The current fees charged by cellphone companies are around 25 agurot per minute.
Kachlon said at a news conference that the companies fought hard to quash the new rule. “The cellphone companies have made a career, and billions of shekels, by refusing to be open about their charges. I don't know how many people in Israel understand their cellphone bill, and this is not by accident. When they talk about 'openness,' I would suggest they speak in modest tones. We decided on this change out of our public responsibility to the consumer, and our intention was not to upset the economy,” he added.
Kachlon said at a news conference that the companies fought hard to quash the new rule. “The cellphone companies have made a career, and billions of shekels, by refusing to be open about their charges. I don't know how many people in Israel understand their cellphone bill, and this is not by accident. When they talk about 'openness,' I would suggest they speak in modest tones. We decided on this change out of our public responsibility to the consumer, and our intention was not to upset the economy,” he added.