Information technology’s main goal in any country should be centered on the efficient maximization of the capacity of that country’s citizens, businesses, and government to exchange information internally and externally. According to the “World Times / IDC” report*, a country’s capacity to exchange information internally and externally is measured by that country’s “Information Society Index – ISI”. A country’s ISI is composed of 23 indicators which are grouped in four categories. 1 – Social infra-structure (e.g. secondary and tertiary school enrollment). 2 – Information infra-structure (e.g. telephone lines / household and cost). 3 – Computer infra-structure (e.g. PC / household). 4 – Internet infra-structure (e.g. number of Internet users at home, business, and education).

The Palestinian Territories was not specifically evaluated in the ISI report. The report ranks countries such as Jordan and Egypt as “strollers”, which is defined as countries that are “moving ahead, but inconsistently, often because of limited financial resources in relation to their population”. Some East-European countries such as Romania , Bulgaria , Turkey , and Poland are ranked as “sprinters”, which means that they are “moving forward in spurts before having to catch their breath and shift priorities due to economic, social, and political pressures”.

Other neighboring and regional countries such as Israel , UAE, Greece , Hungary , and Czech Republic are ranked as “striders”, which means that they are “purposefully into the information age, with much of the necessary infra-structure in place”. The first ISI report (1996) had two countries in the top “skater” category (the USA and Sweden ). The 2000-ISI report has 13 countries in this category with the Nordic nations accounting for four of the top five most sophisticated information societies ( Sweden surpassed the United States for the first time).

It is feasible through conservative assumptions that the Palestinian Territories would be ranked towards the bottom of the “strollers” category together with countries such as Egypt and Jordan . Still, the Palestinian Territories would probably surpass 150 other “ starter” nations that have yet to build the basic infra-structure needed to take advantage of the information age.

According to the PCBS Mass Media survey (2000), 44% of Palestinian households have at least one mobile phone. Pal-Cel (known locally as Jawwal) is a subsidiary of the Palestinian Telecommunication Company (Pal-Tel). It is the only local Palestinian provider of cellular phone services in the Palestinian Territories . It is an SM service network which was launched in August 1999 in the GS and in October 1999 in the WB. Jawwal has signed international roaming agreements with over 70 countries and it has become a successful alternative to Israeli cellular operators. It has been difficult to gather dependable data over the past couple of years, but Pal-Cel has been a Palestinian success story in-spite of intentional Israeli hardships.

In 1993, the Palestinian Territories had a tele-density of only 3.1 phones per 100 people, compared to 37.1 in Israel , 9.3 in Lebanon , and 7.0 in Jordan . By 2000, the PCBS Mass Media survey (table 7 ) indicated that 42.1 phones were available per 100 people. According to the Israeli ministry of communication, the number of fixed lines per 100 people in Israel was 47.1 in 1998. Even though the Palestinian Territories is still trailing Israeli figures, they have made huge strides since 1993.

Pal-Tel is the only player in telecommunications in the Palestinian Territories , with a signed agreement with the PNA for a twenty-year monopoly in this sector (until 2015). With-in a relatively short time since the outset of Pal-Tel at the beginning of 1997 as a private company, it has been actively increasing the cable network and the level of connectivity. Pal-Tel’s major achievements so far include:- 1) The establishment of a modern national transmission network. 2) The offering of telephony services to most rural areas. 3) The building of a modern internet infrastructure which enables Pa-Tel to provide back-bone transport for ISPs; Internet access through leased lines for non- ISP corporations; web hosting and IP address space registration; Domain registration; etc…4) The offering of international prepaid calling cards for outgoing and incoming calls. 5) The provision of digital leased circuits. 6) The offering of multi-service data network. 7) The successful securing of gateway 970 from the International Telecommunication Union in 1999.

Pal-Tel is a monopoly and it inhibits competition like all monopolies do. However, it has been a much better alternative to Palestinian citizens and businesses than its predecessor, the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications. Pal-Tel has been the leader of the privatization trend in Palestine . Sooner or later, other firms will join Pal-Tel in servicing the essential telecommunications sector.

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Table 7

Palestinian Telecommunication and Internet Access Profile

Source:- PCBS, Mass Media Survey, 17/6 – 15/7/2000.

*Source:- World Times / IDC, Information Society Index (ISI) report published in the World Bank’s Development Outreach (Spring 2000 issue).

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