Bezeq
| Telephone Communications Ltd
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Ltd |
| ISIN | IL0002300114 |
| founding | 1984 |
| Seat |
Tel Aviv Israel
|
| Number of employees | approx. 12,000 |
| sales | 2.78 billion shekels |
| Branch | Telephone , telecommunications |
| Website | www.bezeq.co.il |
Bezeq ( Hebrew בזק; literally lightning ) is an Israeli telecommunications company . It was state-owned until privatization in 2005. Before the opening of the telephone market in 1997, Bezeq was the only provider of telephone connections. The company is listed in the TA-100 Index on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange .
In 1997, Bezeq had to allow international calls via competitors for telephone booths and landline connections. Instead of 00, the prefix numbers 012 (Golden Lines), 013 (Barak) and 014 (Bezeq) were introduced.
The first Israeli mobile operator Pelephone is now wholly owned by Bezeq, making the company the market leader in both fixed and mobile networks. Bezeq is also completely owned by Walla !, one of the most popular Internet portals in Israel.
Controlling shareholders of Bezeq has several intermediate holding companies (B Communications, Golden Internet), the Eurocom Group of Shaul Elovitch .