JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Bezeq Israel Telecom reported a rise in first-quarter net profit, as its Pelephone mobile phone service and Yes satellite TV unit both drew more subscribers.
Bezeq, Israel’s largest telecoms group, said it earned 322 million shekels ($96 million) in the first quarter excluding one-time items, compared with 299 million shekels a year earlier. Revenue rose 1.5% to 2.26 billion shekels.
Mobile unit Pelephone – Israel’s third largest mobile operator – recorded quarterly net profit of 56 million shekels, up from 8 million shekels a year earlier. Revenue grew 11.5% to 437 million shekels driven by recovery in roaming revenues, growth in 5G plans and total subscribers.
Shares of Bezeq were up 2.65% in Tel Aviv but are down nearly 1% this year.
Pelephone’s subscriber base rose to 2.583 million – 624,000 of them connected to its 5G network – from 2.492 million a year ago.
The company said its new fibre network now reaches 1.25 million households and it has 143,000 subscribers.
Bezeq’s satellite TV unit Yes posted a net profit of 10 million shekels compared to breaking even a year earlier, as it added new subscribers while transitioning to Internet-based broadcasts.
“Bezeq delivered a solid set of results, driven by key performance indicator improvements across all business segments,” said Barclays analyst Tavy Rosner.
($1 = 3.3529 shekels)
(Reporting by Ari RabinovitchEditing by Steven Scheer and Susan Fenton)
