Cellcom Israel Q2 loss widens on COVID-19 impact

Cellcom, Israel’s largest mobile phone operater, reported a larger quarterly net loss, weighed down by the coronavirus pandemic which took a hit on revenue.

Cellcom said on Monday it lost 46 million shekels ($13.5 million) in the second quarter, versus a 35 million shekel loss a year earlier.

Revenue fell 7.1% to 855 million shekels, and service revenue decreased 1.7% to 683 million shekels.

Results in the second quarter “were adversely affected by the corona crisis which mainly caused a decrease in roaming service revenues from the company’s customers abroad and from tourists arriving in Israel,” said Arell Beker, Cellcom’s replacement CFO said.

However, CEO Avi Gabbay said that the company’s planned purchase of smaller rival Golan Telecom would boost its adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, which fell 56.4% to 24 million in the second quarter.

Cellcom said its cellular subscriber base dipped 0.4% in the quarter from a year earlier to 2.734 million and the number of customers to its TV service rose 2.5% to 245,000.

The company did not pay a dividend this quarter.