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, Trend reports with reference to Reuters.
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.