February 3, 1999

PalTel organizes a press conference in Ramallah Celebrating the 3rd anniversary of the company establishment

PalTel Refuses Reconnection Offers with the Israeli Cellular Operators

On the occasion of the third anniversary of the company establishment, Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel) held a press conference in Ramallah, 3 February 2000. Mr. Zahi Khouri, Chairman- Jawwal Executive Committee, Mr. Hatem Halawani, President & CEO-Paltel and others attended. Mr. Khouri declared that (Paltel) has refused an offer to reconnect its cellular phone company (Jawwal) with the Israeli cellular operators due to serious violations to the Palestinian sovereignty and its legal authority over the Palestinian Telecom Sector. He pointed to the agreement signed by PalTel with Partner Communications three months ago per connecting Jawwal to Orange, and emphasized that actual connection was delayed due to technical difficulties faced by both parties. However, it was declared that PalTel is ready to reconnect Jawwal to Israeli companies provided their abiding by the same conditions contracted with other companies.

The issue of Jawwal's service cutting off Cellcom & Pelephone was raised and was referred to the lack of a written agreement with PalTel regulating telephony traffic routing through Bezeq. They assured that the Ministry of Post & Telecommunications would tackle needed measures for proceeding the reconnection without affecting any party's interests.

Halawani pointed that Jawwal network covers almost all-Palestinian areas currently, with a capacity reaching 70 thousand lines and expected to expand up to 120 thousand lines before the end of this year. He added that over 80 countries have signed mutual agreements with Jawwal.

Moreover, a briefing on Paltel's latest achievements was presented during the conference, which showed a noticeable raise in subscription rate (300%). According to Halawani, total investment deployed in modernizing the Telecom Sector reached US$250 Millions. However, tangible declines in call prices (40%) were recognized since 1997 as follows: to Arab countries 34%, to Europe 52%, in the West Bank 44%, Gaza region 33% compared to 27% rise in the prices of petrol & water supplies. He stressed that over 85 percent of bills' average value do not exceed 200NIS.