IBC Unlimited is owned by Hot, Cellcom, Israel Infrastructure Fund and the Israel Electric Company. The company, which currently reaches more than 1.15 million households, will now reach hundreds of thousands more customers.
The board of directors of IBC Unlimited, the fiber optic company that is owned by Hot, Cellcom, Israel Infrastructure Fund and the Israel Electric Company, unanimously approved the expansion of the company’s fiber optic network deployment to hundreds of thousands of additional households, so that in total the company will reach more than 2 million households.
IBC Limited, which currently reaches more than 1.15 million households, is required by the terms of its license to reach approximately 1.7 million households by 2026, but its rate of deployment will allow it to reach this goal before then.
At the same time, as a complementary step to the move, Cellcom’s board of directors approved last week to gradually increase the company’s commitment to purchase rights to use IBC Unlimited’s fiber optic infrastructure. According to the agreement drawn up between the companies, Cellcom’s commitment will increase and will be at a minimum of 15% starting in July 2024.
The CEO of IBC Unlimited, Yossi Hever, said: “Approving the expansion of the deployment to 2 million households will bring the news of competition and high-speed internet with the most advanced technology in the world to hundreds of thousands more households. I thank the IBC shareholders for their great trust in the company and its direction.”
The CEO of Israel Infrastructure Fund, Yaron Kestenbaum, said: “The decision of the board of directors is an important milestone in the transformation of IBC Unlimited into the leading telecommunications infrastructure company in Israel. Since IIF joined the core of IBC’s control in 2019, the company has shown excellent double-digit growth figures on a yearly basis.”
The CEO of Hot, Tal Granot-Goldstein, said: “Hot is proud to lead the fiber revolution and provide the most advanced and fastest infrastructure in the world and the best internet experience to hundreds of thousands of homes and other businesses across the country. Demand for advanced connectivity and data consumption in Israel are at an all-time high, and the decision we made today, to expand the deployment to 2 million households, will meet these demands.”
Cellcom’s CEO, Daniel Sapir, said: “Expanding the deployment to 2 million households will allow Cellcom to continue realizing its growth strategy in the fiber world and give many customers the opportunity to benefit from Cellcom’s powerful internet service.”
Meir Spiegler, CEO of the Electric Company, said: “The Israel Electric Company was one of the pioneers of the fiber optic revolution in Israel, as the one who deployed them on the overhead and underground network throughout the length and breadth of the country, with an emphasis on the periphery. The state’s ownership of optical fibers has both national, social and economic importance. This is a step forward that gives the country a leading position in the world of digital communication.”