Tuesday's entry of two new mobile cellphone operators into Israel's local market may portend lower prices and more variety for consumers, but also the prospect of layoffs as larger firms scramble to cut costs and offer competitive deals.

Newcomers Golan Telecom and HOT Mobile both own a segment of their respective cellular network infrastructure, and lease the remainder in order to be able to offer national coverage.

The new competition has spurred the reigning three big operators: Pelephone, Cellcom, and Orange, into unveiling their own low-cost packages, which may, however, force them into " drastic and painful" staffing cutbacks, according to industry insiders.

As well, stock prices for the big three dived eight to 10 percent on the announcement of the new operators, according to Army radio.

Michael Golan, at a press conference on Monday, described his firm's pricing as "the new standard to which everyone will have to lower their prices," according to the Haaretz daily.

However, all of the firms say they plan to go head-to-head with a welter of packages roughly in the 100-shekel-per-month range, ones that include assorted combinations of air-time, reduced-rate local and international calling, text messaging and internet data access, according to the Globes business daily.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on his Facebook page and Twitter feed that potential customers get while the getting is good.

"The mobile market revolution has already made it possible for every one of you to pay a lot less than you used to pay. Grab the opportunity to pay less," the prime minister said in a statement that was also sent to reporters.

Minister of Communications Moshe Kachlon told Army radio Tuesday morning that he planned "in a week or two to announce policies that would make it easy to import devices, the same way you now can import furniture or housewares."

He said the move would "flood the market with cellphones, like overseas, and they won't cost as much as they do now."