(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
Bezeq Israel Telecom said rapid fibre optics and mobile 5G
network rollouts would continue to drive growth as home telephone
use tails off, Trend reports with reference to Reuters .
Bezeq currently reaches more than 1.36 million households with
its fibre network and as of the end of June had 180,000 customers
for its fibre service. It said it had a record number of new
subscribers in July.
It aims for 1.5 million homes to have fibre access by year-end
and for 2.2 million - 82% of the country - in the coming years.
'We are running faster than we planned,' Bezeq Chairman Gil
Sharon told Reuters on Wednesday after Israel's largest telecoms
group issued second-quarter financial results.
Bezeq's broadband internet revenue grew 10% in the second
quarter to 443 million shekels ($135 million), while telephony
revenue dropped 17.5% to 189 million.
'As more fibre comes into play, Internet will continue to go up
and compensate,' Sharon said.
Smaller rivals Cellcom and Partner Communications are also
deploying their own fibre networks.
A total of 1.6 million households have access to fibre and there
are 670,000 subscribers, according to the Communications
Ministry.
Bezeq said it earned 310 million shekels ($93 million) in the
second quarter excluding one-time items, compared with 304 million
shekels a year earlier and 293 million forecast in a Reuters poll
of analysts. Revenue gained 1.1% to 2.23 billion shekels.
Bezeq said it intended to pay a dividend for the first half of
294 million shekels, or 0.11 shekel per share, in October - 50% of
first-half net profit.
Its shares were up 2.1% in afternoon trading in Tel Aviv.
Last week, Bezeq raised its estimate for adjusted 2022 net
profit to 1.1-1.2 billion shekels from a prior forecast of 1.0-1.1
billion. read more
Bezeq was helped by a 130% rise in net income at mobile phone
unit Pelephone as its subscriber base grew. Sharon said Pelephone
is able to sell 5G packages at higher prices.
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