Last update - 00:00 22/11/2007
Palestinian cell phone company signs up millionth customer
By The Associated Press
The eight-year-old Palestinian cellular phone company Jawwal announced Thursday that it has signed up its one-millionth customer, presenting it as a sign of Palestinian economic potential in sectors not hampered by Israeli travel restrictions.
Jawwal is one of the largest companies in the West Bank and Gaza. Jawwal has been the only Palestinian cell phone company since its founding in 1999, but a license was recently awarded to a competitor.
Also, about 30 percent of the residents of the West Bank and Gaza use Israeli cell phones, said the director of Jawwal, Ammar Aker.
Jawwal is part of the telecommunications company Paltel. The head of Paltel, Abdel Malek Jaber, told a news conference Thursday that Jawwal reached the level of 1 million customers despite often difficult circumstances, noting that Israel delayed delivery of some equipment and that some of the operations are run from London.
Economist Nasser Abdelkarim said the Palestinian information technology sector has growth potential because of the presence of a skilled labor force, and because the sector cannot be hampered by Israeli checkpoints that cover the West Bank.
Manufacturing and trade have been severely stifled by Israel's travel
restrictions, imposed in 2000, at the start of the second Palestinian
Intifada. Israel says it needs the roadblocks and restrictions to protect
itself from Palestinian militants. Over the past six years of conflict, more than 400 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian suicide bombing attacks that originated from the West Bank.