Bezeq will deploy fiber optics to about 80% of households in Israel, investing billions of shekels to upgrade the country’s Internet infrastructure, the company said.
The announcement follows changes to legislation regarding Israel’s fiber optics rollout. Deploying fast Internet quickly around the country is a top priority of the Communications Ministry. As part of the new outline, Bezeq will be required to complete the deployment within 6 years.
Bezeq International and HOT Communications both launched superfast fiber-optic networks in March. Bezeq committed to reaching about one million households, about 40% of the Israeli market, by the end of the year.
The deployment, which will include about 90 municipalities in most of the country, including periphery towns, is the largest infrastructure project in Israel, with an investment of billions of shekels, Bezeq said.
Israel now has three broadband Internet providers – Bezeq, Partner and a partnership between HOT, Cellcom and IBC. In February, HOT acquired a portion of IBC, which is a fiber-optic venture from Israel Electric, in a move arranged by the Communications Ministry to help speed up the fast Internet rollout.
Israel’s adoption of high-speed Internet until now has been very slow, and the country’s fixed-line download speeds rank about 30th in the world. The Communications Ministry is now looking to make up for a “lost decade” of infrastructure development.
“Bezeq will cover Israel with fiber optics, length and breadth, and will offer ultra-fast Internet services, in the center and in the periphery,” said Bezeq CEO Dudu Mizrahi. “This year, Bezeq embarked on a complex and fascinating path that will make the State of Israel a world leader in the field of communications infrastructure. This is the largest, most complex and most expensive communications infrastructure project in the communications market, in which hundreds of millions of shekels have already been invested, and billions of shekels more will be invested.”
Separately, Bezeq said Wednesday that its net profit for the first quarter of 2021 rose by about 25% to NIS 408 million, as it cut costs by streamlining its subsidiaries. Revenues for the quarter rose 1.6% to NIS 2.2 billion.