Palestinian Phone Network Affected by Shelling of Telecoms Exchange

Paltel, the mobile phone network covering the Palestinian Territories has reported that its network has been badly disrupted by the ongoing military action by Israel in the Gaza Strip. Paltel said that the interruption was a direct result of the continuous shelling on Jabalia's exchange which destroyed Jawwal's mobile towers.

Paltel Group said that its "crew are doing their best efforts to bring back all services that were interrupted in order to enable all people in Gaza to communicate in such difficult conditions,"

Paltel is currently the sole mobile network in Gaza, although Wataniya has also been granted a mobile license for the Territories.

The Palestinian Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MTIT) awarded a GSM/3G license to Wataniya in 2006, after it agreed to pay JD251 million (US$354 million). Wataniya Mobile officials estimate the phone network would draw about US$650 million in foreign investment to the West Bank and create as many as 2,500 jobs in the first two years.

Ericsson is currently building the network - although it is presumed that a significant amount of damage has been caused to the network since the military action began - further pushing back the already heavily delayed network launch.

The Mobile World subscriber database notes that Jawwal is estimated to have just over 1 million subscribers. Within the Palestinian Territories though, some 1.7 million mobile phones are in use. This is due to the Israeli networks "leaking" over the borders and providing service to Palestinians.

Posted to the site on 6th January 2009