Smile will become a shell through which Shaul Elovitch will acquire 30.6 percent of Bezeq The Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) from Ap-Sab-Ar Holdings Ltd. (the Apax Partners-Saban Capital Group Inc.-Arkin consortium).
A deal for the sale of Smile's businesses will be made for an estimated NIS 1 billion. Both Ben-Dov and Drahi are interested because Smile's businesses can be a springboard into the inland telephony market, especially now that HOT cannot be an ISP and Partner is only just starting out in this business.
Smile controls a third of both Israel's international calls and ISP markets. It is a profitable and growing company. It once tried to enter the cellular market in order to counter Partner's entry into the ISP market. Smile, which has no ties with a telecommunications infrastructure company, has a problem and is at the mercy of the regulator. It needs protection from the expansion of competition in its areas of business even as it is blocked from becoming a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) because they do not yet exist in Israel.
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