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The company that was the first to challenge the “traditional” cellphone companies in Israel with discount prices is at it again.

Golan Communications, which had offered an all-included package of phone calls, text messages, Internet usage, and even phone calls to foreign countries for 99 shekels, is “discounting” itself, cutting the price of its package to NIS 49. The new deal is aimed at customers who transfer their accounts from other companies to Golan. Current customers of the company are not eligible.

The new deal replaces another special that Golan had been running previously, giving new customers 4 months of free service and then charging them NIS 99 a month. Experts said that the new deal, which is even cheaper than the previous special, is likely to once again set off a price war with other companies, causing Partner-Orange, Cellcom and Pelephone to cut prices as customers threaten to move to Golan. The deal is good through January 21, 2013.

Experts interview in the media said that the move was puzzling, considering that Golan was already among the cheapest service providers. One expert interview in Globes said that it appeared to him to be an effort by the company to build up its list of users, in preparation for a possible sale of the company; the more users, the more Golan would be worth, the expert said. The expert added that it was doubtful that Golan could continue operating under these conditions.

Golan Communications had no comment on the Globes report.