Israeli telecoms group Bezeq announced its mobile subsidiary Pelephone would exclusively sell 5G-only packages to customers, a move it claimed as necessary to advance the mobile technology in the country.

Pelephone was the first company to launch 5G in Israel and stated the change would come into effect in the coming days, with packages starting at ILS54.90 ($15.12) a month for 1,000GB of data.

Ilan Sigal, CEO of Pelephone, said the move aims to encourage customers to transition to 5G faster and the measure “symbolises our commitment to promoting innovation and making technology accessible through the country”.

As part of the push, Pelephone will also lower the price of its 5G Max tariff, which provides enhanced mobile broadband connectivity at crowded events. The service was developed in partnership with Ericsson and runs on an independent 5G core.

Pelephone stated it has 1.2 million 5G subscribers, representing 53 per cent of its post-paid customers.

It currently covers 80 per cent of the country with 5G.