Palestine gets second mobile operator – Wataniya
By Dusan Belic on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 2:08 AM PST In General
Wataniya Palestine is the second mobile operator that offers its services in Palestine. The company which is owned by Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications (unit of Qatar Telecommunications) and a holding company for Palestinian public assets is looking to serve residents of the West Bank, even though Israel has yet to release the full range of frequencies agreed for the network.
The new carrier began functioning with a frequency range of 3.8 MHz, less than the 4.8 MHz Israel had agreed to open under the last year’s agreement with the Palestinian Authority. Some $270 million was invested in infrastructure in addition to a $140 million licence fee, with part of the money being provided by the World Bank and the U.S. government.
Wataniya Palestine will compete with the existing operator, Zain-owned Palestine Telecommunications Co (PalTel), which has about 1.5 million subscribers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Right from the start, the Wataniya has 40,000 users who had registered during a month-long promotional campaign…
[Via: Reuters]
