Today (Tuesday), the Ministry of Communications sent inspection reports to all the cellular companies that have infrastructure in Israel – Pelephone, Cellcom, Partner, Hot Mobile, Golan Telecom and we4G – against the companies’ violations regarding cellular coverage and reception throughout the country.
All cellular companies are obligated to provide coverage of cellular reception on a 4G basis on 90% of every road. The commitment came into effect already in August 2019, and starting in February 2023 the companies are obliged to provide 95% coverage.
In an inspection conducted by the Ministry of Communications on Route 40 using a system that examines the scope of coverage and the quality of cellular reception, it was found that all cellular companies did not provide 4th generation cellular coverage for more than 10% of the total length of the road. The inspection reports that were sent to the companies today constitute the beginning of the inspection process, and if at the end it is discovered that the cellular companies are not providing service as required by the law, fines will be imposed on them.
Deputy Director of Supervision and Enforcement at the Communications Ministry, Aya Yanai Ben-Forat: “Cellular reception is an essential need in every locality and on every road throughout the country. The Ministry of Communications will continue the supervision and enforcement activity in order to make sure that the cellular companies provide service as required by the license provision, at the same time we are examining the use of additional enforcement tools in the field.”