Israel: Network Sharing Conditioned by Net Neutrality

The Anti-trust Authority in Israel approved a netwrok sharing agreement between Partner Israel and Hot Mobile, 2 of the 5 MNOs in Israel. Such sharing is required (beyond its obvious economic benefits) due to a shortage in LTE frequencies that does not allow all 5 MNOs to deploy their own set of antennas. As a result, the Ministry of Communicators published a new policy (here, Hebrew - some is translated in Partner press release - here), defining 5 levels of network sharing (from passive sharing of base stations and antennas to backhaul sharing.

As Hot mobile is part of the Hot group, a cable operator of TV and ISP services, as well as content provider, the permission by the Anti Trust Authority also requires Hot to conform to very strict Net Neutrality rules on its fixed services [See also "[Israel]: The Parliament Approves Net Neutrality (Fixed and Mobile) Law" - here]:

"Hot will not impose or enforce any restriction on the volume of fixed internet consumption of any customer; will not set the cost and quality of service based on accumulated volume .. will not limit or block the use of any service or application provided on the internet at any time, directly or indirectly, including by setting rates or use of technological means .. Hot's internet services will be sold and provided on equal terms to all customers, whether they buy additional services from Hot or not" (here, Hebrew).

Israel: Carriers Must Disclose Broadband CIR

A new level of transparency is now required from the network providers in Israel. This relates to the two providers of broadband service - Bezeq (DSL) and HOT (Cable).

In Israel the internet service is separated into access and ISP functions, so the customer has to negotiate twice and get two bills. The new rules regulate the access providers only and as such do not mean much to the subscribers.

The Ministry of Communications published corrections to Bezeq and HOT's operator licenses (here and here, Hebrew) with a new section - "service advertising". The new section says that the service  advertisement has to be "real, accurate, fair and conforms to the license" and should include all the following items - maximum download rate, minimum download rate (available at all time to the subscriber) and the same for upload rates.

Both carriers should disclose the above, in writing, to all subscribers in 30 days.

Better Late than Never? Israeli Broadcasters Unite to Fight Piracy

   

5-10 years after the rest of the world, the Israeli broadcasters decided to join forces and fight piracy. The Marker - "Shivuk" (marketing) site reports that 11 Media organizations, including broadcast channels 2 and 10, Hot (Cable - here), Yes (Satellite - see "YES Secret Plan - Be an OTT Provider" - here) and several content producers and niche channels will "initiate legislation, locate piracy web sites as well as educating the public on the issue."

See here (Hebrew). The initiative was approved by the Antitrust Authority - see thier press release - here.

The effort is led by Michal Refaeli-Caduri (picture), VP Regulation of Yes, which is a subsidiary of Israel incumbent carrier, Bezeq.

Israel: Establishing the Wholesale Market

   
The business site, The Marker, reports today that the Ministry of Communication (the Israeli regulator) will require the fixed network operators - Bezeq (DSL) and Hot (Cable) to unbundle the local loop and sell access lines to ISPs.

See - here (Hebrew).

This will allow ISPs to sell, for the first time, both the network access and the ISP services. The debate is on the access link price to the retailers and the ministry hopes to see this self-regulated.

The chart shows the percent of wholesale links in several countries, which you may identify by their flags, in case you do not read Hebrew.

See also "Israel: ISP (Partner) Vs. Carrier (Hot) on QoS" - here.

Israel: ISP (Partner) Vs. Carrier (Hot) on QoS

   

The Israeli business site, Globes, reports today that Partner (branded as "Orange" - with no affiliation to the global Orange group) claims that Hot (cable netwrok operator) prevent it from delivering quality service to their subscribers.

See the article (Hebrew) - here.

According to the article, Hot's new "UFI" (Ultra Fast Internet) network does not allow Partner to allocate an IP address per subscriber, so it may set an individual QoS policy.

Israeli regulation separates between the fixed network service (DSL or cable) and ISP services - therefore subscribers need to have relations with 2 providers. Wireless operators offer both the network connection and the ISP service.

Behind all this is the fact that Partner provides VoIP and VOD services, therefore competing with Hot's basic cable triple play service.

This is a little more sophisticated than the classical Net Neutrality debate..

See "Net Neutrality in Israel: Targeting Voice over Mobile" - here