The Ministry of Communications imposed a fine on Bezeq International, following a continuous violation of its obligations regarding waiting times for human response at call centers.
The fine was imposed after supervisory inspections conducted by the ministry in three different periods found that the company consistently exceeded the license provisions: both the maximum average allowed waiting time for a human response and the maximum rate of calls in which the wait exceeded 6 minutes.
In all the centers examined and in all periods, not a single case was found in which the company met the requirements set for it.
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According to the Ministry of Communications, this is also a repeated violation: in a previous supervision process regarding response times, the company was found to be deviating from the instructions, and even now - despite some improvement in the data - it remains in violation of the regulations in all periods examined.
Most of the company's claims, including those regarding disproportionality, the effects of the security situation, and harm to its revenues, were examined and rejected.
The Ministry of Communications intends to publish data on testing the response times of communications companies in the coming days.
The Ministry of Communications says: "The Ministry of Communications will continue to act decisively to enforce licenses and regulation to ensure proper, accessible and fair service. Recently, the ministry increased enforcement of reporting obligations and initiated supervisory proceedings against a number of companies that did not meet these obligations.".
""Reporting is the basis for the ministry's ability to operate, and a company that does not act in accordance with the information requirements will face uncompromising enforcement.".
Communications Minister Shlomo Kari said: "Communications services are a daily and vital infrastructure, and there is a price to pay for negligence and harm to the public. The Ministry of Communications under my leadership will continue to monitor violations of the terms of the media companies' licenses, and in particular to open the market to competition and a wider range of service providers.""
