Aaron Katsman
www.IsraelNewsletter.com

In an ironic twist, the Israeli Ministry of Communictaion, is going to try and take a more active role in solving problems that have beset cellular companies, like Partner(PTNR) and Cellcom(CEL), as they try to deal with customers switching providers and keeping their same phone number. In what was hailed as a victory for the consumer,  the government’s ineptness to provide solutions and guidelines that both work and are efficient, have caused major delays for those trying to take advantage of the new law.

As I mentioned in a previous post when the program started, the ministry did a poor job of getting the word out about the new program and many consumers didn’t even know that they were now able to keep their cell number but switch carriers. Now there is another issue; a problem in data verification procedures between the companies, which has resulted in bureaucratic difficulties and delays in portability. Why does this problem exist? You guessed it. The ministry can’t figure out what to do. Communications industry sources claim that the ministry has not finalized its own number portability procedures and that it issues new guidelines on the subject every few days.

I am shocked! But what gets even sadder( or funnier- depending on perspective) is that “The Ministry of Communications also announced today that it intended to expedite the handling of problems and to take a more active supervisory role.”

Now I feel confident that the problems will get taken care of. Not.

Disclosure: Author’s fund holds no position in any stock mentioned, as of 12/13/07.

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Aaron Katsman is Managing Editor of the Israel Opportunity Investor newsletter. He is lead portfolio manager for the Israel Growth Portfolio and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. For more information, go to www.israelnewsletter.com or call 1-888-327-6179, or email aaron@profile-financial.com.

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