Bezeq's new network offers higher speed Internet

TEL AVIV, June 3 (Reuters) - Bezeq Israel Telecom (BEZQ.TA), the country's biggest telecoms group, said on Wednesday it had begun deploying its next generation network (NGN), enabling it to offer clients Internet speeds of up to 15 megabits per second.

The company said 100,000 of its clients had already been connected to the NGN and it was continuing to deploy the network throughout the country.

Clients who currently have service of 5 or 8 Mbps will be able to double their speed at no extra cost, Ran Guron, vice president of marketing, told a news conference.

The upgrade at no extra cost only applies to access to the DSL infrastructure, which Bezeq provides. Customers in Israel also need to pay Internet service providers (ISP), though Bezeq has a separate ISP subsidiary called Bezeq International.

"We have called on all the Internet service providers to follow our lead and make 10 mega the standard in Israel," said Guron, who noted the current standard is 2.5 Mbps.

Though Israel has a very high Internet penetration rate, the average surfing speed is well behind countries such as Japan, where speeds average 90 Mbps, and France with speeds of 50 Mbps.

Once a monopoly, Bezeq is facing growing competition from cable company HOT (HOT.TA) which already offers Internet speeds of 10 Mbps.

Eventually, Bezeq's NGN will enable speeds of up to 50 Mbps as well as advanced and lucrative services. "This is the beginning of a revolution in the speed of surfing," Bezeq Chief Executive Avi Gabbay said.

Gabby would not provide a timeframe for full deployment of the network Nor would he disclose how much Bezeq is investing in the network which Israeli media have estimated will cost some 2 billion shekels ($509 million). (Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by David Holmes) ($1 = 3.93 shekels)