Paltel
Encyclopedia
Paltel Group or Palestinian Telecommunication Group is the largest private-sector company in the Palestinian territories
, employing almost 2,000 people. Its subsidiaries include the landline
network Paltel, which was in service in 1994, cellular network
communications provider Jawwal, and internet
services provider Hadara.
Paltel Group makes up 29% of the Palestinian Authority's gross national product and accounts for 50% of the worth of the Palestine Securities Exchange
.
, the Israeli state-owned provider. The initial three year plan was to invest $600m in the West Bank and Gaza in order to increase customers from 85,000 to 250,000. An agreement was reached in 1997 to acquire knowhow from Cable and Wireless, and in 1998 Ericsson
won the contract to supply a GSM cellular network. That year Arafat called on mobile users to switch to Paltel which would soon become the sole providers for the two regions.
The mobile operator of PaltelGroup, Jawwal, with its 2 million subscribers, has stopped a merger operation with Zain
, but still will join the One Network project in the year 2010.
Palestinian territories
The Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
, employing almost 2,000 people. Its subsidiaries include the landline
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
network Paltel, which was in service in 1994, cellular network
Cellular network
A cellular network is a radio network distributed over land areas called cells, each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver known as a cell site or base station. When joined together these cells provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area...
communications provider Jawwal, and internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
services provider Hadara.
Paltel Group makes up 29% of the Palestinian Authority's gross national product and accounts for 50% of the worth of the Palestine Securities Exchange
Palestine Securities Exchange
The Palestine Exchange in Nablus, or PEX, was incorporated as a private shareholding company in early 1995, with the Palestine Development & Investment Company as its major investor. The PEX was fully automated upon establishment - a first amongst the Arab Stock Exchanges...
.
History
In 1995, when Yasser Arafat set up the Palestine Telecommunications Co, only 3% of Palestinians owned a telephone; applicants would have to wait years for a connection by BezeqBezeq
Bezeq, the Israeli company for communications, is a telecommunications provider in Israel.Until the mid-first decade of the 21st century when it was owned by the Israeli government, Bezeq had a monopoly on landline telephony and Internet access infrastructure...
, the Israeli state-owned provider. The initial three year plan was to invest $600m in the West Bank and Gaza in order to increase customers from 85,000 to 250,000. An agreement was reached in 1997 to acquire knowhow from Cable and Wireless, and in 1998 Ericsson
Ericsson
Ericsson , one of Sweden's largest companies, is a provider of telecommunication and data communication systems, and related services, covering a range of technologies, including especially mobile networks...
won the contract to supply a GSM cellular network. That year Arafat called on mobile users to switch to Paltel which would soon become the sole providers for the two regions.
The mobile operator of PaltelGroup, Jawwal, with its 2 million subscribers, has stopped a merger operation with Zain
Zain
-People:*as a given name in general , orwith a first name of Zain*Zain Abbas , a Pakistan-born cricketer*Zain Amat , a Singaporean trapshooter*Zain Awan , an India-born Arab TV journalist...
, but still will join the One Network project in the year 2010.
Subsidiaries
- Paltel (Fixed telephony)
- Jawwal (GSMGlobal System for Mobile CommunicationsGSM , is a standard set developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute to describe technologies for second generation digital cellular networks...
, GPRSGeneral Packet Radio ServiceGeneral packet radio service is a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system's global system for mobile communications . GPRS was originally standardized by European Telecommunications Standards Institute in response to the earlier CDPD and i-mode...
, EDGEEnhanced Data Rates for GSM EvolutionEnhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution is a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM...
, SMSShort message serviceShort Message Service is a text messaging service component of phone, web, or mobile communication systems, using standardized communications protocols that allow the exchange of short text messages between fixed line or mobile phone devices...
and MMSMultimedia Messaging ServiceMultimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length.The most popular use is to send photographs from...
) - Hadara (ISP)
- Palmedia' (MediaMedia (communication)In communications, media are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data...
Services) - Reach (Contact Center)
- Hulul' (IT Support)