Dear Editor:
I just received your July-August issue of Global Wireless and read with great interest the article on pages 22-23 titled, “Middle East: Region Sees More Hints of Privatization.”
I can fully understand how Israel has become part of the Middle East, but it is beyond me how Palestine has dropped out of your Middle East definition.
This is all the more true when one knows that we embarked on privatization over three years ago and have set up the first Palestinian GSM network, which expects over 120,000 users and will also affect the de-facto Israeli competition currently in the market.
It is extremely important that editorial accuracy is exercised in our region, and I hope a correction will be made.
Sam Bahour
West Bank, Palestine
From the Editor:
Global Wireless is familiar with the operations of the Palestine Telecommunications Co. (PalTel) and has been following in publication its progress over the past nine months. While Global Wireless makes every attempt to cover all markets in its regional focuses, this is not always possible. We regret any error of omission. The following news report includes an update on PalTel’s service launch.
Global Wireless correspondent Sandra Welfeld delivered the following report on PalTel’s progress:
PalTel is in the final stages of implementing its GSM 900 network. The network was commercially launched 15 August in Gaza and is expected to start 1 September in the West Bank, according to a PalTel official. The network, with expandable capacity of up to 120,000 subscribers, is expected to have 40,000 subscribers by the end of the year.
Until now, Palestinian cell phone users subscribed to one of the three Israeli cellular companies, Cellcom, Pelephone or Orange. PalTel company officials estimate 80,000 to 100,000 Palestinians own an Israeli cellphone and are expected to switch to PalTel during the next few months.
PalTel has signed international roaming agreements with more than 70 countries, including most of the Middle East, said PalTel.
