1998 Accomplishments

We Add Switches to Supply More Numbers, Increase Efficiency.
Our first expansion project (PalTel 1) has been completed and resulted in increasing capacity to about 126,652 phone numbers, besides introducing 14 new switches. The second expansion project (PalTel 2), has been concluded as well and resulted in enhancing the efficiency of the TMX-100 switches operating in Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Gaza by changing them into super nodes.

Our third expansion project (PalTel 3), is to construct three switches in El-Bireh, Deir Qidies and Beit ‘Awa, besides installing and operating eight additional RSUs. The preliminary capacity of these switches has reached about 20,656 phone numbers. Within a short period of time telephony services in Palestine have developed quantitatively and qualitatively due to executing the above-mentioned projects as shown by the Development Indicators table.

Development Indicators

Outside Plant Projects
PalTel has continually worked on providing telephone lines through access loops needed to absorb the continuous expansion in switch capacity and the growing demand for telephony services. The latest technologies are being deployed to meet this demand.

Cable and Wire Local Loop
The telephone network’s capacity has been expanded through fitting main and subsidiary cables in about 156,112 lines distributed as follows:

Hence, the additional capacity in the outside plant projects during the past two years has reached about 210,000 lines.

Pair Gain Systems
The deployment of pair gain systems has proved to be the most practical and rapid solution for solving the deficiency in telephone lines. Pair gain is usually used in city centers where street density makes excavations difficult. The company’s option from the outset for this solution was to fulfill the greatest number of applications possible that have been outstanding for several years. Various capacities were utilized, thus availing a total of 36,490 new phone lines.

Concentrators are being installed to serve remote rural areas far from the main switching sites and populous locales. PalTel has contracted to purchase such devices with various capacities, reaching about 20,000 lines in total.

Wireless Local Loop systems provide the best economic and technical solutions by providing wireless telephone lines to customers without the need to lay cables. As an initial step to provide telephony services to some rural areas, PalTel has contracted to purchase several such systems with a capacity of over 7,000 lines. These devices are being installed in several villages, in which 1,300 new subscribers have already been added.

1999 Goals

New Switches from Alcatel and Nortel
In September, 1998 PalTel contracted with the French Company Alcatel for supplying, installing and operating 28 main switches and 37 RSUs offering a total capacity of 187,440 phone numbers. Most of these switches are expected to be ready for operation by the end of 1999. Projected for installation in September 1999, PalTel has contracted with the Canadian company Nortel to install and operate National & International Switches (NISCs) in Gaza and Ramallah, plus National Switches in Nablus and Khan Yunis.

Current Switch Expansion
Current switches will be expanded to a total of about 42,348 phone numbers distributed as shown on the Switch Expansion table. This project is aimed at providing the required platform for adding calling cards and voice mail services. Following the conclusion of these projects, switch capacity in Palestine will exceed 466,000 phone numbers.

      Switch Expansion

Planning for the Year 2000
Although much of the equipment that it is being installed is new and allows for the smooth transfer of data and records between 1999 and 2000, some of the existing telephony equipment is older. To combat this, PalTel has undertaken an aggressive program to assure that there will be no Y2K “bugs” when the millenium arrives.

The first stage has been a thorough inventory to isolate problems. Each site in the West Bank and Gaza Regions were visited and a list of all hardware, software, peripherals, and applications were documented including serial and model/version numbers. All manufacturers and suppliers were requested to submit Y2K compliance certificates for their equipment employed in PalTel’s network.

We wanted to determine the following:

	Which equipment may have a Y2K problem
	Which have been tested and certified for Y2K conformity
	The severity of any problem found
	What actions will be taken to insure that year 2000 status of all systems is achieved
	That there is a system to audit the compliance effort

In follow-up meetings with the departments responsible for the equipment in question, the following steps were taken:

	Equipment that could be affected by the Y2K bug was identified and the person responsible for managing that equipment and putting it into compliance was determined.
	A copy of British Standard Institution Y2K compliance requirements was shared and explained to the staff. The need to address the potential problem in all new tenders/contracts was stressed.

Results Are Excellent
The plan has been operating smoothly and Y2K compliance is under control.
Some examples:

Exchanges: Exchanges are a high priority, naturally. The TMX10/100&RSUs are supplied by Telrad. A contract with Telrad for Y2K compliance was signed on February 18, 1999. Implementation is underway. S12 exchanges were contracted for Y2K compliance with Alcatel.

      New Switches & RSUs Which are Contracted with Alcatel

Data Communications: Supplier TNN (for equipment manufactured by Newbridge) was contracted for compliance. The upgrade was finished at the end of April and Y2K compliance certificatification has been received.

Public Phones: Our supplier, Interacom, has provided a confirmation letter that equipment is Y2K compliant. The same is true for other systems components covering the concentrators: Oracle financial systems, microwave links, pair gains systems, wireless local loop, office equipment, etc. Activity is on-going regarding the IT Department Systems. We expect to finish this plan successfully by the end of July 1999.

OUR VALUES Managing, operating, and developing the Palestinian telecommunications sector is a national duty, we are proficient at carrying this responsibility and proud of being granted this honor. Ultimately, the customers’ satisfaction is our main concern, to be achieved by:
	Offering unique and competitive services and developing these services continuously to meet present and future demands of our customers
	Establishing strong and long-term relations with our customers
	Maintaining close contacts with our customers to receive their comments/ ideas and re-evaluate the offered services continuously
	Effective management and employees’ job satisfaction, by adopting the following:

	English - Capital Investments in PDF Format - 191KB Note: To view this document you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader application installed on your system. If you need this application you can download it at www.adobe.com
	Arabic - Capital Investments in PDF Format - 428KB Note: To view this document you need the Adobe Acrobat Reader application installed on your system. If you need this application you can download it at www.adobe.com

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