There are currently five providers of
cellular service in
Israel. The Communications Ministry may award further operator licences at some unspecified date.
The four services now available are:
- Pelephone - analogue and CDMA service - the first, largest & most expensive operator
- Cellcom - EFRC/TDMA service - the biggest competitor - starting to suffer from capacity problems and tying up deals to avoid catastrophe. They're introducing a GSM service (to solve the capacity issues, and offer an upgrade path to GPRS).
- Orange - GSM service - the cheapest, not renowned for good customer service
- MIRS - cellphone and private radio service combined - aimed at business market
- Amigo - MIRS for the consumer market.
GSM owners visiting Israel can
roam on the Orange network. Pelephone, Cellcom and Orange all offer phones with
prepaid cards - these would be be more cost-effective if staying in the country longer-term.
They all have sales kiosks in the major shopping malls.