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INAUGURATION OF THE FIRST PALESTINIAN CELLULAR PHONE SERVICE IN PALESTINE

In Gaza, President Arafat inaugurated the first Palestinian cellular phone service - "Jawwal" - and made the first international call to Cairo from Palestine using GSM communication technology. "Jawwal" numbers begin with the code 059. The Palestinian communications market is growing fast. The inauguration of international, cellular, and local communications networks in Palestine caused shares of the largest public company Paltel to shoot up to a total worth of $260 million. Paltel bought lines that had been installed by Bezeq (Israel's telecommunication company) and upgraded them by adding fibre-optic cables which can carry 200,000 subscribers, enabling the company to deliver high-speed communications and Internet to all the Palestinian areas by the end of next year. At least 200,000 telephone subscribers in the Palestinian territories are expected to switch to Paltel, as Israel's cellular coverage of the Palestinian territories was instituted without the permission of the Palestine National Authority, and is therefore considered to be illegal.