Nablus:  The Palestinian Telecommunications Company, Paltel celebrated the draw selection of the Grand Prize; a Volkswagen Jeep “Tiguan 2009 as part of the ADSL Awards. The company also awarded the monthly winners during a ceremony held at the Hayyat Nablus Hall in the city of Nablus, with the presence of the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology, Dr. Mashhour Abu-Dakka, the acting Chief Executive Officer of Paltel Group, Mr. Kamal Abu Khadijah and the General Manager of Paltel, Mr. Mohannad Al Heijawi.  In addition to these representatives, other Managers from Paltel Group Companies and the ADSL service providers attended along with a large number of prominent figures and media representatives.

The monthly award winners were also announced during this ceremony; Mr. Tomaeh Al Areedeh from Bethlehem with the Easy net supplier won an LG TV; Othman Nejmeldin from Ramallah with Superlink supplier won an LG freezer; Al Fandaka w Meyah Development Society from Gaza with Mushtaha Brothers provider won an LG washing machine; and Ibrahim Abu Sharikh, from Hebron with the POL provider won a home theater set.

During the ceremony, the Director-General of Paltel and the Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MTIT), Dr. Mashhour Abu-Dakka congratulated the grand prize winner, Mr. Hassan Munir Musa Sarabta from Jericho with the service provider Superlink.

Dr. Abu-Dakka stated in his speech: We are working on expanding and developing the telecommunication sector as it is considered a very important sector and not separated from the other economic sectors, and we are also seeking all possible efforts to expand the investment within this sector.”  He also highlighted the Ministry’s plans to begin with the government network in cooperation with Paltel Company to provide an appropriate infrastructure. 

Dr. Abu-Dakka pointed to the Internet service and the hard work being carried out to expand the Telecommunications sector to include the largest number of users and exclude all non-legal participants from the market. He also added, “We want to provide every Palestinian house with internet service, with suitable speeds, which meets the needs of all in cooperation with the telecommunications company and the relevant actors.  The Minister concluded his speech by stating his wishes to have a pioneer telecommunication sector in Palestine since he believes that intellectual production and creativity will not come to an end.
 
Mr. Muhanned Al-Hijawi Director-General of the Palestinian Telecommunications Company, Paltel stated, “Let me start by welcoming all our guests today.  This ADSL campaign reflects our belief of honoring and motivating our customers and our ceremony today will end with awarding our big winner the Grand Prize as we promised our customers in 2009.  The end of this campaign does not mean that we will not have other offers regarding ADSL services.  Paltel will present many offers in 2010 that will benefit our customers and plan to continue to launch various and innovative services.”  Mr. Al-Hijawi thanked the MTIT Ministry for its fruitful cooperation that has resulted in the creation of many significant achievements.

Mr. Al-Hijawi also indicated that the ADSL service began in Palestine through the Palestinian Telecommunications Company, Paltel at the start of 2005, where the number of service subscribers reached 92,482 at the end of 2009.  Paltel continues to work with all its capabilities and effort to increase the penetration of ADSL service to reach all citizens and provide the best quality services.
 
Mr. Al-Hijawi added that, “Despite the obstacles that Paltel has faced in terms of both violations of illegal distributors of ADSL re-sale service and the Gaza Strip siege that has prevented us from supplying the Strip with the necessary equipment, we have worked hard with all our effort to face these obstacles and challenges to provide the necessary equipment and network configuration in record time.  During the last two years we have increased service sites of ADSL from 75 sites to 205 sites along with other capacities in addition to expanding our external connections.

Mr. Al- Hijawi stressed that Palestine is now exceeding many neighboring countries in terms of ADSL number of subscribers, and if we compare Palestine to other neighboring countries in terms of prices, one will find that the fees for installing ADSL in Palestine is considered  symbolic compared with other Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, UAE and Yemen.  For example, in Palestine, installation fees for the ADSL service is $ 38 USD, while in Saudi Arabia it is $ 80 USD and in Syria it is $ 40 USD.

Regarding the ADSL subscription fee, Palestine is the least expensive compared with other countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen, Qatar, and Jordan. For example, in Palestine the price for 128 Kbps speed is $ 15USD and the price for 1024 Kbps speed is $51 USD while in Saudi Arabia the rate for 128 Kbps speed is $ 29 USD and the 1024 Kbps speed  is rated at $80 USD. In addition, the price of the monthly subscription fee for the fixed line phone from Paltel is 20 NIS where Palestine is considered the least expensive in terms of prices compared to countries like Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Qatar. Mr. Al-Hijawi also pointed out that the company is continuously working to communicate with its customers and shareholders alike and will do its best to ensure customers communicate with most advanced and recent technology.

The Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were also thanked by Paltel and the Ministry of MTIT for their ongoing collaboration with internet suppliers and how it was a wise decision to establish companies for service providers to work together and cooperate in order to increase awareness of Internet service and thereby increase the use of technology. Both parties expressed their desire to receive more motivation from the companies in terms of being able to carry out its marketing arm for all telecommunications services and greater proliferation in the area of Internet services.  This area will inevitably affect the development of services where providing Internet is the only step towards further technological development.

It is worth mentioning that Paltel campaign has been launched since the beginning of 2009, which honored its first ADSL service subscriber with the award of 1000JDs.  In addition to this prize, Paltel has also provided 40 awards which have included TVs, washing machines, ovens and play stations as well as 60 free ADSL double-speed awards.