axxxr
Joined: Mar 21, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Londinium
PM, WWW
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GAZA (Reuters) - Gaza City trader Nahed al-Dahshaan always carries two mobile phones -- one Palestinian, the other for an Israeli network.
The Palestinian phone is for local calls. The Israeli one has a walkie-talkie feature and is cheaper for calling abroad.
"They are both necessary," said Dahshaan.
He is far from unique in Palestinian areas where the local mobile operator Jawwal is struggling against strong competition from Israeli cellular operators who do not even have a physical presence.
Jawwal's problem underscores the difficult relationship between the Palestinian economy and an Israeli neighbour linked by both history and a messy geography of Jewish settlements and Palestinian-run enclaves.
Jawwal accuses the Israelis of unfairly snatching Palestinian subscribers while it is unable to expand its own network because Israel has been holding up imports of communications equipment during nearly four years of conflict.
"We welcome competition because it shows that we are the best, but what the Israeli companies do is simply piracy," Jawwal's chief executive Hakam Kanafani told Reuters.
INDIRECT ISRAELI PRESENCE
Israeli companies reject accusations of wrongdoing, but they do not even need offices in Gaza and the West Bank to do business in the two territories which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.
Masts set up to serve Israel and Jewish settlements work just as well for nearby Palestinian subscribers. Pre-paid phone cards -- sold freely in Palestinian towns -- mean there is no need for Israeli firms to even know who is using their phones.
"Cellular technology is not exact," said Haim Israel, head of research at brokerage Excellence Nessuah in Tel Aviv.
"When we are talking about sovereign states like (neighbouring) Jordan the overlap is very small compared to overall size, but when we are talking about overlap with the Palestinians it becomes a very big problem."
Another plus for the Israeli competitors is cheaper international calls. Jawwal has to channel its overseas calls through Israel, driving up its prices if it is to add anything to cover its own costs and make a profit.
The equipment which Jawwal needs to expand its network has to pass through Israel and it has been held up during fighting caused by the 2000 collapse of talks on Palestinian statehood in the West Bank and Gaza.
Some Palestinians own only an Israeli cellphone after giving up on Jawwal. Security man Hamza al-Hissa complained that it was hard to get a signal because the network was so overloaded.
Israeli firms acknowledge doing some business in Palestinian areas, but reject Jawwal's accusations that they are targeting an estimated 400,000 potential Palestinian subscribers because Israel's market is already saturated.
"To say there is a campaign is an exaggeration of what really happens," said a spokesman for Israel's Mirs, which markets phones that have a "walkie talkie" function and says it has sold to several thousand Palestinians through resellers.
ROAMING DEAL
Israel's Partner Communications, which operates under the Orange brand name and has a roaming agreement with Jawwal, said it operated in the West Bank and Gaza to provide a service to Jewish settlers.
Both Partner and Pelephone said they were not actively marketing their services in Palestinian areas. Cellcom said only that it operated according to the law.
A private company established in 1999 by the Palestinian telecommunications company PalTel, Jawwal has invested over $140 million in its network and hopes to raise its customer base of 300,000 subscribers to over 1 million.
Jawwal's initial 5-year exclusive licence to provide mobile services in the West Bank and Gaza has expired. But there is no sign of newcomers seeking to enter the Palestinian market while Jawwal has been unable to carry out expansion plans.
Kanafani said he knew of Arab investors who had been scared off and preferred to invest in Iraq rather than go up against the Israeli firms.
Analysts in Israel said the government was not likely to encourage an expansion of the Palestinian cellular network while such communications could play a role in the conflict.
[addsig] |
Posted: 2004-08-11 13:23
