Type Limited company Key people Ran Guron (CEO) Founded 1986 Parent organization Bezeq | Area served Israel CEO Ran Guron (5 Nov 2015–) Headquarters Givatayim | |
 | ||
Industry Mobile telephony, Telecommunication Products CdmaOne, CDMA2000 EV-DO, UMTS, DC-HSPA+, LTE Revenue ₪658 million (2016)
₪721 million (2015) Profiles | ||
Pelephone (Hebrew: פלאפון, [ˈpelefon], lit. "wonder phone") is a mobile network operator in Israel, and also the first company to offer mobile telephony services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark for mobile phones in Israel, regardless of service provider. As of June 2016, Pelephone had 2.26 million subscribers.
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History
Pelephone was founded in 1986 as a joint venture between Motorola and Tadiran, today owned by Bezeq. In 1994, Bezeq acquired 50% ownership of Pelephone, Israel's first mobile communication company, in 2004 acquired full ownership of the company from its co-owner Motorola.
In December 2011 Pelephone became the host network of "Rami Levy Communications", the first MVNO to begin operating in Israel. As of 2012, Pelephone states that it has 4,500 employees, although the workers' union says that there are just 3,800.
YouPhone (Alon Cellular) was a member of the Pelephone network as a virtual MVNO operator. It was established as a subsidiary of Alon Blue Square Israel, but since 2015 it has been owned completely by Pelephone and also merged its operations with Pelephone.
Network
The Pelephone network started as AMPS/NAMPS in the 850 MHz band. In the mid-to-late 1990s it converted to IS-95 CDMA and later added CDMA2000/EV-DO capabilities as well.
A UMTS network in the 850/2100 MHz bands was launched in early 2009 and in March of that year, Pelephone stopped selling cellphones that use the CDMA system, though it is expected to continue supporting its CDMA network for the foreseeable future. In mid-2010, the UMTS network was upgraded to HSPA+. In 2014 the company launched an LTE network in the 1800MHz band.
Operations and services
Pelephone lost its monopoly status in 1994, when Cellcom a new Mobile communication company was founded, breaking Pelephone's monopoly as a mobile network operator, and in 1999, a third competitor, Partner was established.
The prefix (area code) for Pelephone customers is 050, although customers who requested to keep their old number from a different cellular company may have a different area code, as required by law.
Hi mobile
On April 11, 2016, Pelephone launched a new mobile brand "Hi-Mobile", in cooperation with Hunnam (owned by Jacob front). This brand appeals particularly to young people, soldiers and students with attractive offers and packages for this target audience.
Pmobile
Pelephone launched the cellphone brand "Pmobile" in May 2016. The brand offers Pelephone network services at prices significantly lower than normal.