I'm sure you've read some of the other comments, but none of this explains the massive price difference to Western European market. It's all about lack of competition due to lack of consumer friendly regulation.

A good starting point would be legislation that Israel enacted to get competitive markets as described by rvp-x:

> - Ban on SIM-locking of phones to one provider

> - Allowing users to change providers without losing their phone number

> - Ban on "exit penalties" for customers leaving a contract

> - Forcing existing infrastructure providers to share their infrastructure with virtual or not-yet-fully-deployed new providers