Internet in Israel

Broadband Internet in Israel has been available since the late 1990s in theory, but it only became practically accessible to most customers in 2001. By 2008, Israel had become one of the few countries with developed broadband capabilities across two types of infrastructure—cable and DSL—reaching over 95% of the population.[1] Actual broadband market penetration stands at 77%, ranked 7th in the world.[2] in 2010, Israel was ranked 26th in The Economist's Digital Economy Rankings.[3]

Internet in Israel is provided through the phone and cable infrastructures, by Bezeq and Hot respectively. Bezeq provides dial-up and ADSL, while HOT provides cable Internet services. Every ADSL or cable Internet user has to pay separately to the infrastructure provider and to the ISP, due to competition laws.

Unlimited, a new company formed as a subsidiary of Israel's electric company and other telecom companies, is expected to become the third competitor in the infrastructure market in 2015, and will provide customers with symmetrical FTTH residential lines starting at 100Mbit/s and up to 1Gbit/s.[4]

History

In November 1990, the undersea cable EMOS-1, connecting Israel with Turkey, Greece and Italy, was deployed. This was the first Israeli-built undersea cable, and was augmented by CIOS in April 1994.[5] Since then, other cables have been laid which have provided large capacity links between Israel and abroad.

Until 1997, most domestic Internet traffic was routed either directly between ISPs, or through the Israeli universities' academic network operated by the IUCC. Since 1997, the Israel Internet Association has been responsible for operating the Israeli Internet Exchange (IIX) through which much of the domestic Internet traffic is routed.

Broadband Internet has been available in Israel via ADSL since the late 1990s in theory, but it only became practical to an average residential customer in 2001. This was enabled by a significant upgrade to the Internet infrastructure in 1999, at a cost of over a billion shekels.[1] Since then prices have dropped considerably.

Also in 2001, the Communications Law of 1982 was amended to allow the provision of broadband Internet through the cable infrastructure.[6]

Connection specifications

The average download speed in household broadband connections in Israel is 67Mbit/s, while upload speeds average at 16Mbit/s.[7] Maximum speeds via the cable modem provider's (Hot) connection are 200 Mbit/s down and 5 Mbit/s up for consumers (and 500Mbit/s down and 10Mbit/s up for business customers in select markets) over DOCSIS 3.0, a service started on October 21, 2009.[8] All ADSL services require and use the PPPoE protocol, and cable modem connections generally operate over DHCP. For speed under 30Mbit/sec, a cable user can select to use VPNs using the PPTP/L2TP protocol.

Bezeq, the major local exchange carrier, began rolling out their Next Generation Network (NGN) in 2009 with theoretical speeds up to 100 Mbit/s by using a combination of fiber to the curb (FTTC) and ADSL2+/VDSL2 technologies. Initial product offerings of their NGN were 10 Mbit/s and 15 Mbit/s download and 800 kbit/s upload speeds over ADSL2+,[9][10] with a best effort package of up to 100 Mbit/s available starting October 2010. According to Bezeq, NGN is slated to reach 90 percent of the households in Israel by late 2011 and offerings of 100 Mbit/s will be provided in 2012.[10][11] Its main cable competitor, HOT, using DOCSIS 3.0 infrastructure which allow higher bandwidths.

The three largest mobile phone carriers, Pelephone, Partner, and Cellcom, offer HSPDA service, typically 24 Mbit/s, over their respective 3G networks as well. Partner was the first provider to operate a consumer 4G (LTE) network,[12] reaching a theoretical symmetrical speed of 100Mbit/s. As of today, all major mobile carriers offer 4G LTE Advanced connectivity in the 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz frequencies, available in most populated regions in Israel, however these services are limited to about 20% of their maximum speeds since the Israeli Ministry of Communications has not completed allocating the full spectrum of the required frequencies.[13]

ISP interconnectivity

Israel is connected abroad by three undersea cables: MedNautilus, owned by Telecom Italia,[14] the Bezeq International Optical System,[15] and Tamares Telecom's submarine cable.[16] Domestic connectivity is provided by the Israel Internet eXchange (IIX), a central meeting point of the Internet Service Providers in Israel.[17]

Internet service providers

Due to competition laws, every DSL or cable Internet user has to pay separately to the infrastructure provider and to the Internet service provider (ISP). Infrastructure is provided by Bezeq (via dial-up and DSL) and Hot (cable Internet). All cellular companies (Pelephone, Partner, Cellcom and Mirs) provide wireless Internet infrastructure, and also serve as Internet service providers.

The three main Internet service providers are 012 Smile, 013 Netvision (including Internet Rimon) and Bezeq International. In 2006, the companies held market shares of 34, 33 and 30 percent, respectively, although these numbers include international phone calls.[18] In all, as of August 2012, there were 43 companies with ISP licenses given by the Ministry of Communications.[19]

Satellite

In Israel, Gilat Satellite Networks provides multi-gigabit per second broadband access to consumers and the defense industry by means of high throughput satellites.[20]

Future plans

A third landline Internet infrastructure is being built by the Israel Electric Corporation, which will provide fiber to the home access in the country, starting with Beersheba.[21] This follows a March 6, 2011 communications ministry approval.[22] The network is called "Unlimited" and will provide up to 1 Gbit/s access to Israeli homes. After the network is laid, speeds above 1 Gbit/s will be possible.[21] Bezeq is also set to conduct a similar pilot in Petah Tikva in 2012, paving the way for FTTH connections in Israel.[11]

By 2020, the 160 tbps Quantum Cable will be added to the array of submarine communication cables that land in Israel.[23] In the same year, a 5G cellular network is expected to begin operating in the country.[24]

See also
  • Communications in Israel
  • Media of Israel

References
  1. Ziv, Amitay (March 27, 2008). "Broadening the Band: Recommendations of the Gronau Commission to Split Bezeq into Smaller Firms" (in Hebrew). TheMarker. Archived from the original on November 18, 2009. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  2. "Israel Ranks 7 in Global Broadband Penetration". Ynetnews. June 21, 2009. Retrieved June 22, 2009.
  3. "Digital Economy Rankings 2010" (PDF). The Economist. 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  4. "The Unlimited fiber project is underway". Gadgety. May 20, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  5. Haviv, Haim (November 3, 2010). "Bezeq International Will Deploy Undersea Optical Cable" (in Hebrew). TheCom. Archived from the original on November 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-04.
  6. "Israel" (PDF). OECD. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  7. "Download speed in Israel". Netindex. Ookla. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  8. Nes, Gilad (October 21, 2009). "Hot Offers Internet Connection Speeds of Up To 100M" (in Hebrew). Calcalist. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  9. Weiss, Avi (September 14, 2009). "The Battle Between Bezeq and Hot Intensifies – Customers will Gain Only in Years" (in Hebrew). TheCom. Archived from the original on December 31, 2009. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  10. Haviv, Haim (October 12, 2010). "Bezeq Expo 2010 – Gap With Europe and US Shrinking" (in Hebrew). TheCom. Archived from the original on November 29, 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-16.
  11. Haviv, Haim (December 14, 2011). "Bezeq Introduces the New Tidings: Fiber NGN" (in Hebrew). TheCom. Archived from the original on May 19, 2012. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
  12. Dor, Ophir (July 15, 2014). "Partner Received Authorization and Is Inaugurating the First 4G Network in Israel" (in Hebrew). Calcalist. Retrieved 2014-07-16.
  13. "4G in Israel: The Ministry of Communications allowed the mobile providers to switch on their high-speed network". The marker. July 13, 2014. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  14. Ziv, Amitay (June 9, 2010). "Borovich Will Place Undersea Communications Cable that Will Connect Israel to the World at an Investment of $150 Million" (in Hebrew). TheMarker. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  15. Zohar-Wolf, Ortal (December 5, 2011). "Bezeq International Finished Laying Submarine Cable". News1 (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  16. Ziv, Amitay (February 22, 2012). "Cisco, Elbit, ViaEuropa and Tamar Telecom Will Enter IEC Tender" (in Hebrew). TheMarker. Retrieved 2012-01-02.
  17. "Israel Internet eXchange". ISOC-IL. Archived from the original on 2011-09-27.
  18. "Gronau Commission Report" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Israel Ministry of Communications. 2008. p. 49. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
  19. "License Holders for Provision of Internet Connection Services" (PDF) (in Hebrew). Israel Ministry of Communications. August 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
  20. http://www.spacenews.com/article/financial-report/41668satellite-telecom-ground-equipment-maker-gilat-expects-to-shake-off
  21. Crystal, Meirav (May 20, 2014). "Unlimited - Israel's Third Internet Infrastructure". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2014-09-21.
  22. "Cabinet OKs New High-Speed Internet Firm". Ynetnews. Reuters. March 9, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-14.
  23. http://cyprus-mail.com/2018/01/18/quantum-cable-revolutionise-global-telecoms/
  24. Kabir, Omer (December 27, 2018). מכרז הדור החמישי במובייל יפורסם ברבעון השני של 2019 [The 5G Mobile Tender Will Be Published in Q2 2019]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved December 27, 2018.

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