Bezeq
Encyclopedia
Bezeq, the Israeli company for communications, is a telecommunication
s provider in Israel
.
Until the mid-first decade of the 21st century when it was owned by the Israeli government, Bezeq had a monopoly
on landline
telephony
and Internet
access infrastructure (ADSL VDSL2). Though still the most dominant provider of telephone services, it has had competition from the sole cable provider in the country (since September 2006), Hot, which offers a cables based telephone and internet access services as of 2005, and with 012 Smile and more recently 013 netvision and Orange.
On May 9, 2005, Bezeq was officially privatized when 30% of its shares were sold by the state to the Saban-Apax Investment group for $972 Million. The cellular communications provider Pelephone
is a fully owned subsidiary of Bezeq. Bezeq is also the largest shareholder in D.B.S. Satellite Services (1998) Ltd., known by its trademark name, Yes, the satellite (DBS
) television provider in Israel.
In April 2010, the controlling interest in Bezeq, held by the Apax-Saban
-Arkin group, was sold to B Communications
, a subsidiary of Shaul Elovitch
's Eurocom Group, for $1.75 billion.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s provider in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
Until the mid-first decade of the 21st century when it was owned by the Israeli government, Bezeq had a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
telephony
Telephony
In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
and Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
access infrastructure (ADSL VDSL2). Though still the most dominant provider of telephone services, it has had competition from the sole cable provider in the country (since September 2006), Hot, which offers a cables based telephone and internet access services as of 2005, and with 012 Smile and more recently 013 netvision and Orange.
On May 9, 2005, Bezeq was officially privatized when 30% of its shares were sold by the state to the Saban-Apax Investment group for $972 Million. The cellular communications provider Pelephone
Pelephone
Pelephone is an Israeli-based telecommunications company, founded in 1986 as a joint venture between Motorola and Tadiran, today owned by Bezeq. It was the first company to offer mobile phone services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the genericized trademark for mobile...
is a fully owned subsidiary of Bezeq. Bezeq is also the largest shareholder in D.B.S. Satellite Services (1998) Ltd., known by its trademark name, Yes, the satellite (DBS
Direct broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception.A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television...
) television provider in Israel.
In April 2010, the controlling interest in Bezeq, held by the Apax-Saban
Haim Saban
Haim Saban is an Egyptian born Israeli-American television and media proprietor. With an estimated net worth of $3.5 billion, he is ranked by Forbes as the 104th richest person in America.-Biography:...
-Arkin group, was sold to B Communications
B Communications
B Communications is a publicly traded holding company, headquartered in Israel, whose sole asset is a controlling interest in Israeli telecommunications provider Bezeq. Its shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange....
, a subsidiary of Shaul Elovitch
Shaul Elovitch
Shaul Elovitch is an Israeli businessman and the owner of Eurocom Group, one of the largest private holding groups in Israel.- Background :Shaul Elovitch was born in 1949 in Poland and made aliyah to Israel when he was two years old. He grew up in Tel Aviv and married at the age of 20...
's Eurocom Group, for $1.75 billion.