Nablus - No one can deny the achievements and successes of the Palestinian Telecommunications Company, Paltel that is has experienced since its inception.  Paltel defied the odds and obstacles of occupation which quickly demonstrated to its customers its responsibility to the community to succeed in Palestine.  Paltel has had the ability to reach out to customers in times of peace and war through varying services it has provided over the years.
Paltel launched its services in early January of 1997, as an operator and provider of telecommunication services in Palestine with a clear strategy and determination to staying consistent to the values it has created for the Palestinian community in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The company has harnessed the expertise and capacities of highly qualified employees in order to ensure Palestine plays a significant role fits in contributing to the global economy in terms of providing the latest technology in communications and to even solidify its role in becoming a fundamental pillar of the Palestinian national economy.
Strong Arm to the Palestinian Economy
Although the political circumstances and economic conditions have devastated the occupied Palestinian Territories in the last decade, this has not stopped Paltel in growing and expanding in becoming a strong and successful arm of the Palestinian economy.  It is perhaps due to the belief by Paltel employees that it feels it can provide its customers with the best services and the latest technological advancements where the company can continue developing and growing despite challenges in order to maintain the pace with other developing countries around the world.
Determination to Succeed
Despite the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, Paltel has persevered in terms of its presence in the market and has also welcomed international companies in the territories to increase competition in the market where it has also received numerous offers from global companies in terms of mergers and acquisitions.  Like the previous years, Paltel was once again successful in 2009, a year characterized in the way the company provided unique services to its subscriber base.  Campaigns were launched to provide added value services to the fixed line and ADSL service in terms of reduced prices with increased speed.  In addition, Paltel launched the ADSL Awards, which included domestic ADSL subscribers to draw prizes on a monthly basis.   At the end of the campaign in 2009, the grand prize of a Jeep Volkswagen (Tiguan) was drawn by a participating customer.
Continuous Services and Offer
The company also launched the “The Dearest Two Campaign” where customers could make calls at 59 agora per call.  At the end of this campaign, Paltel rewarded random participants with vouchers to travel to Jordan, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, ie. the places that were called the most by the participating subscriber.  In addition, Paltel also reduced prices in terms of international communications and re-priced the cost of calls from the fixed line and pre-paid cards to a majority of countries throughout the world.  Paltel also ensured the connection with rural areas of Palestine, as well as launching awareness campaigns for E-Service payments by credit cards and the marketing and the sale of cards for international communications at scattered call centers throughout the territories.  In its continuous support of the education sector, the company continued to fund the PC Fund project in the West Bank at all universities in addition to providing special offers to larger companies throughout the communities.
Paltel and the Gaza War
During the war on Gaza, Paltel also paid a price during this tragic event where five of its employees were killed during the raid.  In terms of the mass physical destruction imposed by the Israeli attacks, a majority of the communications network in Gaza were destroyed where the company worked quickly to re-build switches and replace more than 100km of copper cables in the ground and air.  Due to the war, several projects were created to deliver services to new sites and to meet the needs of the local market in Gaza.
Commitment to the Community
The greatest development witnessed by Paltel is the result of its commitment and responsibility towards society in terms of participating in social, cultural and educational activities.  Paltel created its own programs in cooperation with the Women’s Union in celebrating International Women’s Day on a yearly basis where Paltel also supported the Second Conference of Technical and Vocational Education in Palestine, which was held at Al-Najjah National University.  Due to its interest in the sports sector, Paltel also sponsored the first marathon in Nablus.  Paltel also participates in the yearly Expo Tech week for the Palestine Information and Communication Technology.
Steady Growth Rates
As a result of Paltel’s achievements, the rate of fixed line penetration for home residential use was approximately at 9.3% in 2009, with a 4% increase in the number of subscribers which has reached 370,638 users compared to 2008 where the number of subscribers was 357,509.  In2009, Paltel also witnessed an increase in the number of ADSL subscribers reaching 92,482 customers compared to 72,518 ADSL subscribers in 2008.  This demonstrated an increase of about 27.5%, where the rate of ADSL for telephone lines increased at an equivalent rate of 25.0%. The company continues to achieve success despite the difficulties it has been forced to overcome since its inception.  Paltel remains dedicated to its values of customer loyalty, transparency and clarity in vision in order to continue and develop the latest technology to the community while enhancing the performance of its human resource team in order to better serve its customers and provide better packages on a continual basis.