Cellcom Israel Announces a Purported Class Action Filed Against the Company

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Mar 08, 2010, 01:46 ET

NETANYA, Israel, March 8, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE: CEL) (TASE: CEL) (hereinafter: the "Company"), announced today that the Company was served with a purported class action lawsuit against the Company and another cellular operator, filed in the District Court of Tel-Aviv-Jaffa by two plaintiffs alleging to be subscribers of the defendants, in connection with allegations that the defendants breached their license by failing to purchase insurance against monetary liability which the defendants may suffer due to bodily damages that allegedly may be caused by cellular radiation. The plaintiffs request the court to award compensation in an amount equal to the insurance premiums allegedly payable for insuring such liability (estimated by the plaintiffs to be NIS 300 million per year per defendant) for the past seven years and to order the defendants to purchase such insurance coverage in the future.

If the lawsuit is certified as a class action, the total amount claimed is estimated by the plaintiffs to be approximately NIS 4.2 billion, out of which NIS 2.1 billion is attributed to the Company individually.

At this preliminary stage, the Company is unable to assess the lawsuit's chances of success.

About Cellcom Israel

Cellcom Israel Ltd., established in 1994, is the leading Israeli cellular provider; Cellcom Israel provides its approximately 3.292 million subscribers (as at December 31, 2009) with a broad range of value added services including cellular and landline telephony, roaming services for tourists in Israel and for its subscribers abroad and additional services in the areas of music, video, mobile office etc., based on Cellcom Israel's technologically advanced infrastructure. The Company operates an HSPA 3.5 Generation network enabling advanced high speed broadband multimedia services, in addition to GSM/GPRS/EDGE and TDMA networks. Cellcom Israel offers Israel's broadest and largest customer service infrastructure including telephone customer service centers, retail stores, and service and sale centers, distributed nationwide. Through its broad customer service network Cellcom Israel offers its customers technical support, account information, direct to the door parcel services, internet and fax services, dedicated centers for the hearing impaired, etc. As of 2006, Cellcom Israel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Cellcom Fixed Line Communications L.P., provides landline telephone communication services in Israel, in addition to data communication services. Cellcom Israel's shares are traded both on the New York Stock Exchange (CEL) and the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (CEL). For additional information please visit the Company's website http://www.cellcom.co.il

    Company Contact
    Yaacov Heen
    Chief Financial Officer
    [email protected]
    Tel: +972-52-998-9755

    Investor Relations Contact
    Porat Saar & Kristin Knies
    CCG Investor Relations Israel & US
    [email protected]
    Tel: +1-646-233-2161

SOURCE Cellcom Israel Ltd.