Cellcom is a public Israeli telecommunication company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CEL.
As of 2022, Cellcom has 171 cellular antennas in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, of which 5 are in Israeli military checkpoints in Qalandiya, Hizma, Rantis, Ma’ale Adumim and Avnat, and 30 cellular antennas in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The company has a special license to provide transmission services and domestic data communications for settlements in the occupied West Bank valid through 2026. Cellcom Fixed Line Communications Limited Partnership, fully owned subsidiary of Cellcom, has a license to provide telecommunication services until 2026, while Golan International, another fully owned subsidiary of Cellcom, has a license to provide international calls valid until 2023.
In 2019, the University of Ariel in the settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank awarded Cellcom and Bezeq International (subsidiary of Bezeq) a tender for the provision of Internet services.
In 2018, Cellcom won a tender by the Shomron regional council in the occupied West Bank, for the provision of cellular services, radio mobile phones, and general services and maintenance.
Under Israeli law, the Prime Minister has the authority to order Cellcom to provide services to the army. Under the Israeli Equipment Registration and IDF Mobilization Law – 1987, the state can take the company’s facilities and equipment for the use of the army.
In 2012, Cellcom Israel won a Ministry of Defense tender to provide cellular services to the Israeli army and the Ministry of Defense for three years, with an option of extending the contract for up to 7 years. In 2018, the contract was extended for additional 3 years and in 2021, the Ministry of defense extended the contract for another two years for the worth of NIS 50 million. The company created and maintained a portal for soldiers and their families on its website.
In 2013-2014, the company had an agreement with the Efrat Economic Development Company (belonging to the settlement of Efrat in the occupied West Bank) whereby the latter operated as an agent of telecommunication providers Cellcom and Pelephone. The two companies charged the Efrat Economic Development Company for the purchase of equipment and services, while the latter received 2% from the companies’ profits.
Cellcom took part in the expansion of the Beitar Illit and Efrat settlement project between 2010 and 2021 as an external infrastructure and utility provider. The project included 8,333 housing units by Gadish Group, underground works, drainage, road grading and sloping, retaining wall (geogrid soil reinforcement, gravity, and reinforced walls), and developing open public spaces in difficult mountainous topography. The financial cost of the project was NIS 800,000 in an area of 10,161 dunams.
In 2009, a Cellcom sales center called “Results – Telemarketing Services” opened in the Beitar Illit settlement, employing ultra-orthodox Jewish settlers.
Additionally, the company enjoys the structural advantages of Israeli telecommunication operators over Palestinian providers in the Palestinian market, including the ability to offer 4G and LTE while the Palestinian operators are limited to 3G services. Israeli communication providers have an estimated 20 % mobile broadband market share in the occupied West Bank, and have between two to seven times greater frequency service than the Palestinian providers have.
