Cellcom reports: a transition to loss of NIS 64 million in 2018

Cellcom reports a decline in revenues, a fall in operating profit, and a transition to loss - in the summary of 2018 and in the fourth quarter. The company ended the past year with a loss of NIS 64 million, compared to a profit of 113 million in 2017.
The number of cellular subscribers rose slightly in the past year, by 1.2%, to 2.86 million subscribers, and when the rate of abandonment dropped from 45.8% to 43.2%. The number of Internet subscribers at the end of the year was 269,000, an increase of 21.2% compared to the end of 2017. The television service continues to be the most growing segment of Cellcom, and the number of subscribers rose by 28.8% in 2018, reaching 219,000.
"The communications market in Israel is in a difficult situation and without urgent regulatory intervention to solve the crisis, real investment is expected to hit," says Cellcom CEO Nir Stern in the annual report.
The communications services company posted a drop of 4.7% in revenues to NIS 3.69 billion in 2018, compared with NIS 3.87 billion in 2017. Revenues from services decreased by 4.6% to NIS 2.78 billion. Operating profit fell 75.1% to only NIS 74 million, compared to NIS 297 million in 2017.
Revenues for the fourth quarter totaled NIS 918 million, compared with NIS 975 million in the fourth quarter of 2017. Operating profit fell to NIS 8 million, compared to NIS 45 million in the corresponding quarter last year. Cellcom closed the quarter with a loss of NIS 35 million,