Paltel's acting chief executive officer, Zahi Khouri, officially declared that the company is heading towards international partnership, through the opening of a specified share of Paltel to international leading telecommunication companies.
Khouri said many international companies have already expressed interest in the Paltel sale. The percentage of the company to be sold, the method of sale and the international partner are yet to be determined.
The Palestine Telecommunications Company (PALTEL) is the public telecommunications operator in Palestine. Assuming operational responsibilities in January 1997, after long negotiations for its license, PALTEL is a joint stock company — registered in Jericho — with an initial capital of 45 million Jordanian dinars (about $50 million) of which PADICO’s share is 22 percent.
66 institutional investors, including PADICO, own three-quarters of the company’s shares, while the remainder is owned by the public sector. PALTEL has therefore become the first privately controlled public telecommunications operator in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications regulates PALTEL through a licensing agreement.
A strategic investment is currently being encouraged, aiming at a comprehensive upgrading of the whole Palestinian telecommunications sector, Khouri said, adding that the transformation of Paltel into a communication services benchmark with state of the art specifications is to be tangible shortly, allowing access into international markets.
According to Khouri, a strategic shareholding in Paltel by a highly advanced telecom firm should lead to acquiring international expertise and preparing for future global competition.
The company endeavores to achieve full independence for the Palestinian telecom sector off the Israeli counterparts. Last month the Palestinian post and telecommunication ministry announced it had formulated plans for a complete separation, preparing for the declaration of the Palestinian state.
Minister Imad Al Falouji told Reuters that his ministry and PALTEL had been working day and night for six months to upgrade telecommunication networks in Gaza and the West Bank. "The only tie that is still linking us with Israel is the international calls to and from Palestinian authority through the Israeli Golden Lines company," Falouji said, "But this is a technical issue that can be cut off in a few hours following a declaration of statehood."
As part of Paltel's stated mission to provide "telecommunications for all", new switches were activated in July in Rafah, Jabalia and Salfit. Preliminary capacity for the new switches reaches 7,000 lines for Rafah's, and 10,000 lines for Jabalia's. Salfit's total capacity stands on 4,560 lines. — (Albawaba-MEBG)
© 2000 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
