Communications in the Palestinian territories

The telecom infrastructure in the Palestinian territories is growing at a very rapid pace and continually being updated and expanded. Communications in the Palestinian territories occur across many media, including telephone, radio, television, and internet.[1]

Telephone

There is one Fixed Line Company Paltel with 363,000 fixed line customers [2]

Mobile

There are 2 mobile operators in the Palestinian territories: Jawwal with two million customers, and Wataniya with 400,000 customers.

Radio

There are 25 licensed FM stations broadcasting in the Palestinian territories.

FM Stations

On October 1, 1999, the International Telecommunications Union assigned the call block E4A through E4Z to Palestine. Aircraft tail numbers, amateur radio stations, vessels at sea and other radio facilities licensed by the Palestinian Authority will carry call signs beginning with "E4."

Internet

See also: .ps

Censorship

In 2008 opennet stated "Access to Internet in the Palestinian territories remains relatively open, although social filtering of sexually explicit content has been implemented in Gaza. Internet in the West Bank remains almost entirely unfiltered, save for a single news Web site that was banned for roughly six months starting in late 2008. Media freedom is constrained in Gaza and the West Bank by the political upheaval and internal conflict as well as by the Israeli forces."[4]

On 23 April 2012 EFF published a list of websites censored by some Palestinian ISPs.[5]

On 23 April 2012 the Tor Project announced that they are witnessing politically motivated censorship in Bethlehem.[6]

In May 2012, the Ma'an news agency stated "The Palestinian Authority has quietly instructed Internet providers to block access to news websites whose reporting is critical of President Mahmoud Abbas." [7]

Mail

Main articles: Palestine Post and Postage stamps and postal history of the State of Palestine

Palestine Post is responsible for providing postal service in West Bank, while the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology of the State of Palestine is responsible for postal service in the Gaza Strip. Generally, international letters addressed to West Bank are routed through both Jordan and Israel and the international letters addressed to Gaza are routed through only Israel. Delays often happen during sending and receiving letters from Palestine. Without these two national postal authorities, no international courier service would be serving the areas.

Newspapers

[8]

References

  1. ↑ Rossotto, Carlo Maria; Decoster, Xavier Stephane; Lewin, Anat; Jebari, Ihab. 2016. Telecommunication sector note in the Palestinian territories : missed opportunity for economic development. Washington, D.C. : World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/03/26144103/telecommunication-sector-note-palestinian-territories-missed-opportunity-economic-development
  2. ↑ http://wirelessfederation.com/news/16005-zain-acquires-majority-stake-in-paltel-palestine/
  3. ↑ https://www.telegeography.com/products/commsupdate/articles/2014/11/10/paltel-records-3-revenue-decline-in-9m14/
  4. ↑ "ONI Country Profile: Gaza and the West Bank", OpenNet Initiative, 10 August 2009
  5. ↑ https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/04/palestinian-authority-found-block-critical-news-sites
  6. ↑ https://blog.torproject.org/blog/politically-motivated-censorship-bethlehem-palestine
  7. ↑ http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=478726
  8. ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6176691.stm

See also


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