View source for Telecommunications in Israel

{{Short description|none}}<!---None is correct as [[WP:SDNONE]]--->
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}}
[[File:Bezeq - Or Yehuda telephone exchange.JPG|thumb|A [[Bezeq]] Cellular tower and telephone exchange, located in the town of [[Or Yehuda]].]]

'''Telecommunications in Israel''' are the most developed in the Middle East. Israel's system consists of [[coaxial cable]]s, [[optical fiber]]s, and [[microwave radio relay]]. Prior to the 1990s, Israel's telecommunication market was dominated by [[Bezeq]], a [[government-owned corporation]]. During the 1990s, the Israeli telecommunication industry transitioned from government owned monopolies to diversified private competition by a range of new companies. As of 2014, the telecommunications sector in Israel had revenues over [[Israeli new shekel|₪]]15&nbsp;billion, representing about 2% of the GDP.<ref name="telIL2014">{{cite web |url=http://www.moc.gov.il/sip_storage/FILES/9/4729.pdf|title=Telecommunications in Israel 2014 (English)|date=2015 |access-date=20 October 2016}}</ref>

Technology and industry-wise, the Israeli telecom industry has been among global leaders in technology development pioneering developments of protocols such as [[WiMAX]], [[VoIP]] and [[TDMoIP]]. During the 2000s Israel emerged as a leading supplier for the global telecommunications industry, and a global leader in technological [[Science and technology in Israel|research]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iati.co.il/files/files/IATI%20&%20IDC%20Israeli%20ICT%20Industry%20review%202012.pdf |title=IATI Annual Review: Israel ICT Industry 2012|author=IDC research |date=September 2012 |page=9|access-date=2 May 2014}}</ref>

==1940s–1960s==
[[File:Ford F-1 Israeli Postal Service Erez Israel Museum.JPG|thumb|Vehicle of the [[Israeli Postal Service]], on display at the Postal Pavilion of Erez Israel Museum]]
* 1939 – [[Yedioth Ahronoth]] is founded – the national newspaper of Israel.
* 1948 – The [[Israeli Postal Service]] (Ministry of Transport, Postal, Telegraph and Radio) replaced the mail service system provided during the [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate of Palestine]].
* 1948 – [[Maariv (newspaper)|Maariv]] is founded – Daily newspaper
* 1955 – Israel's first [[mobile post office]] began in the [[Negev]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mobile post office |url=https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmehSxmTPRCr85Xjgzjut6uWQihoTfqg9VVihJ892bmZCp/Mobile_post_office.html |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=ipfs.io}}</ref>
* 1966 – The [[Israeli Educational Television]] began broadcasting on 24 March.
* 1968 – The [[public broadcasting]] channel [[Channel 1 (Israel)|Channel 1]] (then called "The Israeli Television") started broadcasting with a live broadcast of an army parade on the [[Independence Day (Israel)|Israeli Independence Day]] in [[Jerusalem]].

==1970s–1980s==
[[File:Israeli telephon token.jpg|thumb|An [[Telephone token|Asimon]], used for making calls on payphones.]]
* The [[Voice of Peace]] ({{Script/Hebrew|קול השלום}} – Kol Hashalom) was a radio station that served Israel and the Middle East for 20 years. The station first went on the air in May 1973 from the ship ''MV Peace'' (formerly the Dutch cargo vessel ''MV Cito'').

The 1980s brought a revolution to the communication market in Israel:
* In 1984, [[Bezeq]] was established to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency, significantly reducing the waiting period for the installation of new telephone lines.
* In 1986, the [[Israel Postal Company|Israel Postal Authority]] was founded.
* In 1986, [[Pelephone]] (the first cellular company in Israel) was established by [[Motorola]] and [[Tadiran Telecom|Tadiran]].
* In October 1986, the Israeli [[Channel 2 (Israel)|Channel 2]] started experimental broadcasts which continued for a period of seven years.
* [[Arutz Sheva]] ({{Script/Hebrew| ערוץ 7}} – Channel 7) was a radio station that served Israel for 15 years. The station first went on the air on 21 October 1988<ref name="OS1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.offshoreradiomuseum.co.uk/page816.html|title = Hatzvi}}</ref> from the ship ''MV Eretz HaTzvi'' (formerly the Maltese cargo vessel ''MV Mount Parnis''<ref name="OS1" />).
* [[Pirate decryption|Pirate cable TV]] arrived towards the end of the eighties.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

==1990s==
[[File:זהו זה מלחמת המפרץ מתכננים לשלוח סקאד לישראל.jpg|thumb|A comedy about Iraqi missile launchers during [[Gulf War]] at the [[Zehu Ze!]] TV program]]

The 1990s was a decade of marked change in the Israeli telecommunications industry, and massive developments in [[Cellular network|cellular communications]], Internet, [[commercial television]], and multichannel television platform such as cable television and satellite television.
* The [[Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority]] was established and the first Israeli commercial channel – [[Channel 2 (Israel)|Channel 2]] – began to broadcast on 4 November 1993, which began the era of [[Audience measurement|television ratings]] in Israel. The original agreement was that the broadcasting days of the channel were distributed among three broadcasting companies in order not to have a direct competition between them.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}
* The multichannel television platform in Israel began when the cable TV companies were established. Every company had a monopoly in a certain area of the country (according to a franchise given by the [[Ministry of Communications (Israel)|Ministry of Communications]]). For the first time, the Israeli public became exposed to tens of foreign channels from other countries around the world (which overtook the place of the [[JRTV|Jordanian]] and [[Middle East Television|Lebanese]] channels which were the only foreign channels received in Israel until then), and to new local channels on the cables: The children channel, [[Sport 5|the sports channel]], [[Hot 3 (Israel)|the family channel]], and the films channel. The move brought to almost total elimination of the pirated cable broadcasting in the country.
* The Israeli [[pirate radio]]s experienced prosperity which happened in tandem with the establishment of legal regional radio stations, and to the reorganization of the military radio stations in 1993 (the establishment of [[Galgalatz]] in tandem with the [[Israel Defense Forces Radio]], instead of the former two stations "Army 1" and "Army 2"). In spite of all the changes in the field of radio broadcasting, this medium lost the majority of the listeners ratings during the nineties, and by the end of the decade, the radio was considered to be a communication medium which had few listeners in relatively to the television.
* Although the majority of homes in Israel still receive daily newspapers nowadays, in this decade many main newspapers were closed, including ''[[Hadashot]]'', ''[[Al HaMishmar]]'', and ''[[Davar]]''.
* In the mid-nineties, Internet and emailing became prevalent in Israel. Back then, the connection to the Internet had to be done by means of [[dial-up Internet access]] to the local Internet service providers such as [[013 NetVision|NetVision]] and [[012 Smile|Internet Gold]].
* In 1994, [[Cellcom (Israeli company)|Cellcom]] joined as the second cellular network in Israel after [[Pelephone]]. At the start, the company experienced different problems with the devices they provided, when their users experienced many disconnections and intermittence during conversations.<ref name="CellcomPhoneBug">{{cite news | title= Israelis and Others Feel the Sting of a Cellular Phone Bug | url= https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5DC1130F937A2575BC0A963958260 | newspaper = The New York Times | access-date=7 June 2008 | first=Lawrence M. | last=Fisher | date=14 August 1995}}</ref>
* In 1998, [[Bezeq]]'s monopoly on international calling services was ended with the addition of two other companies, [[012 Smile|Golden Lines]], and [[013 NetVision|Barak]], who also began to offer international calling services . The activity of Bezeq in this field passed to its subsidiary [[Bezeq International]].
* In 1999, [[Partner Communications Company]] joined the cellular communication market in Israel with the brand-name [[Orange Israel]]. Partner was the first company which built network foundations in Israel which worked under [[GSM]] technologies.

==2000s==
In the first decade of the 21st century there was a major emphasis on digitization and a shift to mobile technologies, following similar trends in [[Telecommunications in Europe|Europe]] and [[Communications in the United States|North America]].

===Television===
[[File:Eretz Nehederet.JPG|thumb| TV studio of the [[Eretz Nehederet]] program]]

The Israeli satellite television provider [[yes (Israel)|Yes]] was established in 2000, introducing strong competition in the cable television market. Prior to the establishment of [[yes (Israel)|Yes]] there were only three other cable companies in Israel: Tevel, Matav and Arutzay Zahav. The competition with Yes caused a big loss of members amongst the cable TV companies which urged them to merge. In order to strengthen Yes, which was relatively new, the regulator postponed his approval to the merger of the cable companies. The merger was completed in 2003, and the cable companies were renamed under the singular company called [[Hot (Israel)|Hot]].

Throughout the decade, Hot and Yes inserted the use of the digital [[set-top box]]es, and with them it became possible to receive digital broadcasts (improvement in the quality of reception of the television channels), and additionally also enabled games channels, [[video on demand]] (V.O.D) and nowadays they supply digital set-top boxes which contain advanced [[digital video recorder]] (DVR) technologies which are capable of pre-recording shows (Hot Magic, Yes Max). HOT has put a big emphasis on encouraging production of local Israeli movies, while YES, in contrast, puts more emphasis on purchasing foreign TV series and movies.

Under the inspection of the [[Second Israeli Broadcasting Authority]], an additional Israeli terrestrial-commercial channel was established on 28 January 2002: [[Channel 10 (Israel)|Channel 10]]. This move started a competition among the commercial channels. Channel 10 purchased for itself hosts and actors from Channel 2 and Channel 1. In spite of these procurement actions, the channel is still considered to be inferior in the amount of its viewers relatively to the other channels.

In 2005, an additional bid took place in channel 2, in which "[[Keshet (TV)|Keshet]]" and "[[Reshet]]" were chosen to be the channel's broadcasts to the consequent decade. [[Israeli News Company]] won the bid to produce the terrestrial [[Knesset Channel]]. On 30 March 2010, all analogue terrestrial television towers were switched off and digital distribution ("Idan Plus") is the only digital terrestrial system in effect. The first phase includes five SD channels (IBA-1, IBA-33, Channel 2, Israel 10 and The Knesset Channel). The system is [[DVB-T]] and [[MPEG-4]] and in SFN configuration with two frequencies across the whole country (north and south are UHF 26 while central is UHF 29). A second phase with more channels was expected in 2012 (also IBA-1 HD) and a third phase maybe in 2013.{{Update after|2014|3}}

===Internet===
{{Main|Internet in Israel}}
[[File:MedNautilus-route.png|thumb|[[MedNautilus]] [[Submarine communications cable]]s in the Mediterranean Sea, connecting Israel to Turkey, Greece and Italy]]

[[Broadband Internet]] became prevalent in the majority of homes in Israel. [[Bezeq]] ceased to be a monopoly in the field of the [[landline]] communications, when [[Hot (Israel)|HOT]] started offering telephony services through the cables infrastructures.

In the middle of the decade, due to the popularity which the high-speed Internet and VoIP technologies gained amongst the [[Israelis]], at first Israelis were able to conduct international conversations free of charge or at lower rates through the Internet due to the link between VoIP networks such as [[Skype]] and [[Vonage]] and the traditional telephony networks in Israel and abroad. In 2008, [[Partner Communications Company]] and [[XFONE]] joined the high-speed Internet providers market.

===Other communication Fields===
On 1 March 2006, The [[Israel Postal Company|Israel Postal Authority]] became a [[government-owned corporation]], the Israel Postal Company, as a preceding stage to the opening of the mail market to competition. The Israeli radio succeeded to recover from rating problems and opened more regional radio stations.

On 17 December 2007, the Israeli parliament approved a new law which enables the [[Israel police]] and other law enforcement bodies to access communication data without judicial inspection.{{Citation needed|date=March 2008}}

On 4 June 2008, the Ministry of Communications published a concession for operating a system which would enable broadcasting of digital radio transmissions in Israel. Over 50 stations nationwide are estimated to be broadcasting their transmissions on the Israeli digital radio broadcasts.

==Present==
===Press===
{{Main|List of newspapers in Israel}}
Israel has three main commercial daily newspapers: ''[[Yedioth Ahronoth]]'', ''[[Maariv (newspaper)|Maariv]]'' and ''[[Haaretz]]''. Additionally, there are also two large [[free daily newspaper]]s: ''[[Israel Hayom]]'' and ''[[Israel Post]]'' (belongs to ''The Jerusalem Post''). Other major newspapers include the Russian-language ''[[Vesti (Israeli newspaper)|Vesti]]'', the English-language ''The Jerusalem Post'', etc.

===Mail===
The mail field in Israel treads towards competition. The Mail Authority became the [[Israel Postal Company]]. Gradually, the government-owned postal company enabled additional companies to enter the market of postal deliveries of mail with a weight up to half a kilogram; this was done so that they could compete with the governmental mail company, allowing the postage rates to drop.

===Radio===
{{Main article|List of radio stations in Israel}}

In contrast with the state which exists in the television field, in the radio field, the [[Israel Broadcasting Authority]] is allowed to produce earnings from advertising. The radio section of the Israel Broadcasting Authority is called [[Kol Yisrael]] ("Voice Of Israel").

[[Reshet Bet]] is the leading radio station in Israel. Two additional radio stations belong to the [[Israel Defense Forces|Israeli defense forces]]: Israel Defense Forces Radio and [[Galgalatz]]. In addition to the main radio stations which could be received throughout the country, there are also regional commercial radio stations broadcasting under the auspices of [[the Second Authority for Television and Radio]]. There is a severe problem in Israel with [[Pirate radio|pirated radio stations]].

===Landline telephony===
[[File:Pay phone haifa 20080109.jpg|thumb|Payphone in [[Haifa]]]]
[[File:Geographic_area_codes_of_Israel.jpg|thumb|Geographic area codes of Israel]]

As of 2020, [[Bezeq]], [[Hot (Israel)|HOT]], [[Partner Communications Company|Partner]] and [[Cellcom (Israel)|Cellcom]] offer landline telephony services. Bezeq offers traditional services, while the others offer [[Voice over IP]], with Hot's service being routed through an intranet.

In 2020, Bezeq had 9,500 [[payphones]] throughout the country. In December of the same year, they received permission from the government to dismantle the vast majority of these phones, leaving only those in active use and those within closed spaces, e.g. prisons, where other choices are not available.<ref name="ynet-bezeq-payphone">{{cite news|url=https://www.ynet.co.il/economy/article/HygVB1s6D|title=בזק תסיר את רוב הטלפונים הציבוריים|trans-title=Bezeq Will Remove Most Public Telephones|author=Kristal, Meirav|work=[[Ynet]]|date=31 December 2020|access-date=31 December 2020|language=he}}</ref>

===International calls===
As of October 2016, eight operators, 012 – [[012 Smile]], 013 – [[013 NetVision]], 014 – [[Bezeq International]], 015 – Hallo 015, 016 – [[Golan Telecom]], 017 – [[Hot Mobile]], 018 – Exphone and 019 – 019 Telzar provide international telephony: All the companies offer membership services which usually offer their customers cheaper rates. Membership might include some benefits such as billing, and dialing the default 00 prefix instead of the need to dial the specific prefix of the company (as it was done in the past, when Bezeq had a monopoly in this field). Because these companies have an extensive infrastructure of links abroad, the majority of them also provide internet services. Incoming calls are distributed through the companies relative to market share.

===Cellular communication===
As of January 2020, There are six major network operators in Israel which offer cellular communication service: [[Pelephone]], [[Cellcom (Israel)|Cellcom]], [[Partner Communications Company|Partner]], [[Hot Mobile]], [[Golan Telecom]] and [[XFONE|we4G]].{{fact|date=September 2021}}

In addition, there are several [[Mobile virtual network operator|MVNOs]]: [[Rami Levy Communications|Rami Levy]], Home Cellular, 019 Telzar and Cellact. The services which these companies provide long ago passed the boundaries of voice conversations and currently provide also SMS Text messaging, [[Videoconferencing]] and [[Broadband Internet access]].{{fact|date=September 2021}}

===Television===
[[Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Council]] is a governing-body whose purpose is to facilitate and regulate the commercially operated television broadcasts in Israel. There are two companies in the market of multichannel television: [[Hot (Israel)|HOT]] (which provides television services through an underground infrastructure of cables) and [[yes (Israel)|yes]] (which provides television services through satellite transmissions). The cable company has an advantage over the satellite company due to a permit granted to it from the communication office, which enables it to provide full bidirectional communications (for example the ability to provide [[video on demand]] services).{{fact|date=September 2021}}

There are two commercial channels on Israeli television: [[Channel 2 (Israel)|Channel 2]] and [[Channel 10 (Israel)|Channel 10]]. There also exist several niche channels which make their earnings from TV advertisements, such as: [[Israel Plus]], [[Music 24]], [[Channel 20 (Israel)|Channel 20]] and the Israeli shopping channel. Additionally, [[Channel 1 (Israel)|Channel 1]], which belongs to the [[Israel Broadcasting Authority]], finance itself partially with the help of limited sponsorship announcements, although most of its budget comes from the license fees which every household in Israel, with a television and a digital receiver set, pays annually.{{fact|date=September 2021}}

===Internet===
{{Main|Internet in Israel}}

The Internet companies market is divided into two categories: infrastructure providers and service providers. The infrastructure providers are [[Bezeq]] and [[Hot (Israel)|Hot]]. A third company Unlimited is building an internet-over-powerline infrastructure. As of October 2016, the largest Internet service providers are [[Bezeq International]] and [[Hot (Israel)|Hot]], in addition to 50 smaller companies.{{fact|date=September 2021}}

===International connections===
Three companies operate [[fiber optic]] [[submarine communications cable]]s connecting Israel and Europe:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Operator !! System name !! Year operational !! Total design capacity !! Landing points
|-
|rowspan="2"| [[Telecom Italia]] || [[MedNautilus]] || align="center" |2002|| align="right" | 3.84[[Terabit|Tb]]/[[second|s]] ||
* Italy
* Greece
* Turkey
* Israel
* Cyprus
|-
|| [[LEV (cable system)|LEV]] || align="center" | 1998 ||align="right" |  20[[Gigabit|Gb]]/s ||
* Italy
* Cyprus
* Israel
|-
| Bezeq International || [[Bezeq International Optical System (cable system)|JONAH]]|| align="center" | 2012 ||align="right" |  7.2Tbit/s||
* Italy
* Israel
|-
| [[Tamares Group|Tamares Telecom]] || Tamares Cable || align="center" | 2012 ||align="right" |  42Tbit/s ||
* France
* Cyprus
* Israel
|}

==Statistical data==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Parameter!! Amount
|-
|Fixed line operators
|[[Bezeq]], [[Hot (Israel)|HOT]], [[012 Smile]], [[Cellcom (Israel)|Cellcom]]
|-
|Number of fixed phone lines
|3.4&nbsp;million (2014)<ref name="telIL2014" />
|-
|Cellular mobile network operators
|[[Pelephone]], [[Cellcom (Israel)|Cellcom]], [[Partner Communications Company|Partner]], [[Hot Mobile]], [[Golan Telecom]]
|-
|[[Mobile virtual network operator|MVNO]] operators
|[[Rami Levy Communications|Rami Levy]], Free Telecom – x2one Israel, Home Cellular, 019 Telzar, Cellact
|-
|Number of cellular subscribers
|10.276&nbsp;million (2014)<ref name="telIL2014" />
|-
|Multi-channel TV operators
|[[Hot (Israel)|HOT]] (cable), [[yes (Israel)|yes]] (satellite, streaming), [[Cellcom (Israel)|Cellcom TV]] (streaming), [[Partner Communications Company|Partner TV]] (streaming)
|-
|Number of TV subscribers
|1.485&nbsp;million (2014)<ref name="telIL2014" />
|-
|Number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
|50+ (2014)<ref name="telIL2014" />
|-
|Number of broadband subscriber
|~2.075&nbsp;million (2014)<ref name="telIL2014" />
|-
|Average Internet speed
|93 [[Mbps]] (2022)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Israel's Mobile and Broadband Internet Speeds |url=https://www.speedtest.net/global-index/israel#fixed |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=Speedtest Global Index |language=en}}</ref>
|-
|[[Country code top-level domain|ccTLD]]
|[[.il]]
|-
|[[Internationalized country code top-level domain|IDN ccTLD]]
|{{lang|he|[[.ישראל]]}}
|-
|[[List of country calling codes|Calling code]]
|[[Telephone numbers in Israel|+972]] 
|}

==See also==
* [[Communications in the Palestinian territories]]
* [[Media of Israel]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.moc.gov.il/new/documents/gronau2008/gronau1.pdf 2008 Gronau Commission Report] ([http://www.moc.gov.il/new/documents/gronau2008/gronau2.pdf short version]) {{in lang|he}}
* [http://www.moc.gov.il/sip_storage/FILES/2/2642.pdf 2011 Hayak Commission Report] {{in lang|he}}

{{Asia topic|Communications in}}
{{Telecommunications}}

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[[Category:Telecommunications in Israel| ]]