Pelephone (, , lit. "miracle phone") is a

mobile network operator A mobile network operator (MNO), also known as a mobile network provider, mobile network carrier, mobile , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, wireless operator, wireless telco, or cellular company, is a telecommunications provider of se ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, and also the first company to offer

mobile telephony Mobile telephony is the provision of wireless telephone services to mobile phones, distinguishing it from fixed-location telephony provided via landline phones. Traditionally, telephony specifically refers to voice communication, though th ...

services in Israel. Due to this, the brand-name "Pelephone" became the

genericized trademark A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or ...

for mobile phones in Israel, regardless of service provider. The company is a subsidiary of the Israeli telecommunications conglomerate

Bezeq Bezeq () is an Israeli telecommunications company. Bezeq and its subsidiaries offer a range of telecom services, including fixed-line, mobile telephony, high-speed Internet, transmission, and pay TV (via Yes (Israel), Yes). The company is tra ...

, which is also the principal provider of fixed-line telephone service in the country. As of June 2016 Pelephone had 2.26 million wireless subscribers.

History

Pelephone was founded as a company in 1985 as a joint venture between

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was founded by brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin in 1928 and had been named Motorola since 1947. Many of Motorola's products had been ...

and

Tadiran Tadiran was an Israeli conglomerate founded in 1962 by the merger of two companies, Tadir and Ran. Tadiran had interests in electronics, home appliances (refrigeration and air conditioning), telecommunications, batteries, medical systems and defe ...

, after Motorola was awarded the contract to build Israel's first mobile phone network in November 1983. Pelephone began operations of its mobile phone network in March 1986. Pelephone's first television commercial featured Israeli actor

Hanan Goldblatt Hanan Goldblatt (; born October 10, 10 October 1941) is an Israeli actor, comedian and singer who appeared in plays, films, television programs, and who was most widely known for his part in the educational TV show "Bli Sodot". In 2008, Goldblatt ...

using his

car phone A car phone is a mobile radio telephone specifically designed for and fitted into an automobile. This service originated with the Bell System and was first used in St. Louis, Missouri, on June 17, 1946. Overview United States The original equ ...

to buy and sell shares via a

stockbroker A stockbroker is an individual or company that buys and sells stocks and other investments for a financial market participant in return for a commission, markup, or fee. In most countries they are regulated as a broker or broker-dealer and ...

while driving at the same time. Pelephone's first CEO was Benny Epstein, who served in that position until 1994. In 1994, Bezeq acquired 50% ownership of Pelephone, and in 2004 acquired full ownership of the company from its co-owner

. In December 2011 Pelephone became the host network of "

Rami Levy Communications Rami Levy Communications () is a mobile virtual network operator in Israel, using the network from Pelephone. Founded in 2011, it is owned by Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing. The prefix assigned to Rami Levy Communications is 0556. History In Sept ...

", the first

MVNO A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobil ...

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

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 1998 it converted to

IS-95 cdmaOne, most often simply referred to as CDMA, is a 2G digital cellular technology. It was the commercial name for Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), a technology that was developed by Qualcomm and later adopted as a standard by the Telecommunica ...

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

and in 2004

CDMA2000 CDMA2000 (also known as C2K or IMT Multi‑Carrier (IMT‑MC)) is a family of 3G mobile technology standards for sending voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. It is developed by 3GPP2 as a backwards-compatib ...

EV-DO Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO, EVDO, etc.) is a telecommunications standard for the wireless transmission of data through radio signals, typically for broadband Internet access. EV-DO is an evolution of the CDMA2000 ( IS-2000) standard which ...

mobile data Mobile broadband is the marketing term for Wireless broadband, wireless Internet access via mobile network, mobile (cell) networks. Access to the network can be made through a portable modem, wireless modem, or a Tablet computer, tablet/smartp ...

capabilities were added as well. A 3G

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...

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. In mid-2010, the UMTS network was upgraded to

HSPA+ HSPA may refer to: * High Speed Packet Access, a mobile broadband technology * Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association Education * High School Proficiency Assessment * Humphrey School of Public Affairs, an American public policy school * Hunte ...

. In 2014 the company launched an

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a mobile telephony standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement ** LTE Advanced Pro, a further enhancement * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers * Leukotrie ...

network in the 1800 MHz band. and in 2020 5G NR services were launched, using the 3500 MHz band. In April 2017, Pelephone announced plans to shut down their CDMA network over the summer, and did so on June 28, 2017.

Operations and services

Pelephone lost its monopoly status in 1994, when Cellcom was founded, breaking Pelephone's monopoly as a mobile network operator, and in 1999, a third competitor, Partner (formerly known as

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

) 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. Between 2003 and 2022, Pelephone pursued a multibranding strategy to reach previously underserved

market segment In marketing, market segmentation or customer segmentation is the process of dividing a consumer or business market into meaningful sub-groups of current or potential customers (or consumers) known as ''segments''. Its purpose is to identify pr ...

s. These included Esc, a youth-focused subsidiary which operated between 2003 and 2007 in cooperation with radio station , Sawa, a lower-cost

flanker brand In marketing, a fighter brand (sometimes called a fighting brand or a flanker brand) is a lower-priced offering launched by a company to take on, and ideally take out, specific competitors that are attempting to under-price them. Unlike traditiona ...

targeting the

Arab-Israeli The Arab citizens of Israel form the country's largest ethnic minority. Their community mainly consists of former Mandatory Palestine citizens (and their descendants) who continued to inhabit the territory that was acknowledged as Israeli by ...

sector, and k-mobile, which operated between 2017 and 2019. All the flanker brands were closed and merged into the main Pelephone brand by 2022 as the result of Pelephone's new CEO Ilan Siegel's decision to focus on 5G expansion.

Hii mobile

On April 11, 2016, Pelephone launched a new mobile brand "Hii-Mobile", in cooperation with Hunnam (owned by Yaakov Kedmi). This brand appeals particularly to young people, soldiers and students with attractive offers and packages for this target audience.

Pmobile

Pelephone and the Bug Multisystem retail chain launched the cellphone brand "Pmobile" in May 2016. The brand offers Pelephone network services at prices significantly lower than normal.

Criticism

Involvement in Israeli settlements

On 12 February 2020, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

published a

database In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...

of companies doing business related in the

West Bank The West Bank is located on the western bank of the Jordan River and is the larger of the two Palestinian territories (the other being the Gaza Strip) that make up the State of Palestine. A landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, including

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

, as well as in the occupied

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

. Pelephone was listed on the database on account of its activities in

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, also called Israeli colonies, are the civilian communities built by Israel throughout the Israeli-occupied territories. They are populated by Israeli citizens, almost exclusively of Israeli Jews, Jewish identity or ethni ...

s in these occupied territories, which are considered illegal under international law.

References

{{Eurocom Group Mobile phone companies of Israel Israeli brands 1985 establishments in Israel