Public Inquiries Report in the Telecom Sector for 2024: Amir Biran, Director of the Telecom Public Inquiries Division at the Ministry of Communications, today (Sunday) delivered to Communications Minister Shlomo Kari and the Ministry's Director General Elad Makdasi the public inquiries report on communications companies for 2024.
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The report is an important means by which the ministry reflects to the public and to the companies' developers the findings, as reflected in public inquiries, with each inquiry being reviewed and handled.
Main findings:
• In 2024, 7,228 public inquiries were received, an increase of approximately 21% compared to 2023, when 7,093 public inquiries were received. The Public Inquiries Team completed processing 1,001% of the inquiries received this year.
• The average response time for public inquiries received by the department in 2024 was 11 business days, the same as the average for 2023. Only about 3.91% of the total inquiries handled required further review by the Ministry of Communications with the communications providers.
• In 2024, a cumulative amount of NIS 808,214 was refunded to consumers, following the handling and activity of the public inquiries area. Most of the refunds to consumers stemmed from issues related to service interruption, billing contrary to the agreement, deception in various service procedures, providing service without the consumer's explicit authorization or request, high charges for international calls, and billing without actually providing service.
• The five main issues that the Public Inquiries Department dealt with in 2024: troubleshooting (16% out of all inquiries received), joining the fiber optic service (9%), cellular reception quality (8%), service outages (8%) and overcharges (6%).
Of all the complaints for which a clear professional position could be determined, it was found that the average number of complaints about communications providers that were found to be justified was approximately 37%. The majority of justified complaints, approximately 56%, were registered in Internet services, with an additional 35% dealing with cellular services.
Service quality indicators and comparison between companies:
Criterion A: Number of public inquiries per 10,000 subscribers for telecommunications providers:
A) In the cellular sector - the leaders in the number of inquiries to the office in this category, respectively, are Pelephone, Partner, and Telsar. There has been an increase in inquiries from most companies in this sector, except for Telsar and Partner.
b) In the field of Internet access providers (ISPs) - the leaders in the number of inquiries to the office in this category, respectively - ITC, Yes, and Hot-Net.
c) In the field of communications providers of wired telephony, Internet infrastructure and Internet access (ISP) - the leaders in the number of inquiries to the office in this category are Partner and Cellcom.
Criterion B: Percentage of public inquiries determined to be justified - rates of justified inquiries out of total inquiries:
A. In the cellular field - the leaders in the minority of justified referrals in this category are the companies Pelephone, Cellcom (Golan Telecom) and Partner, respectively.
B. In the field of Internet access providers (ISP) - the leaders in this category are the companies Hotnet, Triple C and Xphone.
C. In the field of communications providers of wired telephony, Internet infrastructure and Internet access (ISP) - the leader in the minority of justified inquiries in this category is Partner. Cellcom and Bezeq are in second place.
And who are the leaders in cellular complaints? Rami Levy Communications
According to the Ynet website, in cellular - Rami Levy Communications presented the most significant increase in the rate of inquiries, recording an increase from 4.53 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers in 2023 to 5.81 inquiries in 2024. Rami Levy Communications leads in the percentage of complaints found justified with 33% justified inquiries and 42% inquiries that were not given a decision.
Next: HOT Mobile with 31% justified inquiries and 35% undecided. HOT Mobile also recorded a significant increase in the inquiry rate from 2.84 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers in 2023 to 3.53 in 2024.
Pelephone is the company with the lowest rate of justified inquiries: 10% of all inquiries. Cellcom (including Golan Telecom) with 13% justified inquiries and Partner with approximately 16% inquiries found to be justified.
Many complaints about Telzer and Xphone companies
Among Internet access providers, an increase in the rate of inquiries was found in 2024, except for Yes and ITC. Most of the complaints are about Telzer and Xphone (in relation to the number of their subscribers): Bezeq International came in fourth place with 5.26 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers, while Telzer received over 17 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers, Xphone over 16 inquiries per 10,000 customers, and Rimon Internet nearly 12 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers.
The companies with the highest rate of justified complaints are ITC with 85% inquiries found justified and yes with 45% inquiries justified and 42% inquiries where it was not decided whether they were justified or not.
Followed by: Telsar with 38% justified requests - a jump compared to 17% justified in 2023, and 47% undecided requests, followed by Xphone with 30% justified requests and 22% undecided requests, and Rimon Internet.
The companies with the lowest rate of justified inquiries in this area are HOT Net and Triple C.
HOT leads in complaints about internet infrastructure
Among companies operating fixed-line services: landline telephony, Internet infrastructure and Internet access service - HOT leads with approximately 13 complaints per 10,000 customers - a slight increase compared to 2023, followed by Bezeq with almost 11 complaining customers per 10,000 customers - a slight improvement compared to 2023.
Cellcom showed an increase in the rate of inquiries with 5.18 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers, while Partner had only 3.6 inquiries per 10,000 subscribers, a decrease compared to 2023.
HOT also leads in justified complaints: 38% justified complaints were found out of all the inquiries about the company and 29% unresolved complaints. At Cellcom and Bezeq, 28% justified complaints were found and over 30% unresolved complaints, and at Partner, 27% justified complaints.
Complaints about fiber optic connections were reviewed separately: 61% of which were about Bezeq and 8% about Hot, 6% of the referrals were about IBC, another 6% about Rimon Internet, 4% about Partner, 3% about Cellcom, and 11% about other companies.
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