PALESTINIAN MOBILE OPERATORS ASK FOR HELP IN AREA C

C O N F I D E N T I A L JERUSALEM 000040

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/IPA, SEMEP, AND EEB; NSC FOR KUMAR; COMMERCE
FOR WEIGLER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/09/2020
TAGS: ECON EINV ECPS KPAL KWBG IS
SUBJECT: PALESTINIAN MOBILE OPERATORS ASK FOR HELP IN AREA C

REF: 09 JERUSALEM 2197

Classified By: CG Daniel Rubinstein, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: The two Palestinian mobile telephone
operators (Jawwal and Wataniya) say they continue to struggle
with lack of coverage throughout the West Bank, penetration
of Israeli settlement-based cellular networks into
Palestinian urban areas, and small frequency allotments
(compared to those of their Israeli competitors). These
difficulties result in increasing costs for consumers, lost
revenues for the Palestinian Authority (PA),and a delay in
the introduction of the latest services, like 3G, that
customers in Israel and the rest of the region now take for
granted.


2. (C) Summary cont'd: Each company is now suffering, as
Jawwal CEO Ammer Aker put it, from "frequency fatigue."
Neither believes that the GOI is going to provide any
additional frequency in the near term. They are, instead,
focusing on securing permission to erect cellular antennas in
Area C to broaden coverage. Jawwal and Wataniya executives
separately passed post a full list of their proposed Area C
antennae sites with geographic coordinates, coverage area,
and customers served. They asked for USG assistance in
engaging the GOI on the outstanding permits. Post will
provide the information to NEA/IPA and SEMEP via unclassified
email. End Summary.

Area C Priorities: Major West Bank Roads, Allenby, Hebron
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) Palestinian mobile telephone operators are focused
on expanding their coverage into Area C (the nearly 60% of
the West Bank that falls under full Israeli control for
security, planning, and construction) as a means to improve
the quality of their service and lower costs to consumers.
Jawwal executives told EconOffs that their customers are
limited to roaming on Israeli carriers, at great expense,
whenever they travel between West Bank cities. Comment: Most
private sector contacts carry two phones: one Palestinian
and one Israeli. They confirm that it is more cost-effective
for them to use their Israeli phones in many areas inside the
West Bank. End Comment.


4. (SBU) Jawwal CEO Ammer Aker identified the Allenby/King
Hussein Bridge area and the main Palestinian roads connecting
the municipalities of Ramallah, Nablus, and Jericho as
Jawwal's priorities. He noted that the proposed site on the
Ramallah-Nablus road alone would benefit 40% of Jawwal's
subscribers. Jawwal and Wataniya each complained that
Allenby Bridge, as the primary crossing out of the West Bank
for most Palestinians (approximately 1.5 million crossings
each year -- many of which involve significant time waiting),
remains the sole domain of Israeli cellular operators.
Wataniya CEO Allan Richardson focused on the importance of
Hebron, noting that the H2 area of Hebron, the majority of
whose inhabitants are Palestinians, does not have reliable
access to Palestinian mobile networks.

Settlement Freeze Impacting Permits?
--------------


5. (SBU) The GOI has not approved an Area C permit for
cellular operators since 1999, according to Jawwal. Aker
said that he has submitted Jawwal's priority list of 25 sites
several times over the past several years, and received no
response. Wataniya confirmed it had also submitted and paid
for permits for its 22 proposed sites in Area C. According
to Wataniya engineer Jamal Yassen, representatives from the
Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories
(COGAT) told him during a late December 2009 meeting that
they had received an order to freeze all applications for
building sites in Area C for Palestinian and Israeli
operators as part of the GOI's freeze on residential
construction in West Bank settlements.


6. (SBU) Wataniya's Richardson suggested several compromises
that could address security concerns that the GOI might have
about Area C sites, such as allowing the GOI to control
and/or monitor access to the sites or beginning with permits
for the nearly 2/3 of Wataniya's proposed sites that are on
rooftops in Palestinian towns in Area C.

Frequencies Remain a Problem,
But We're Tired of the Conversation
--------------


7. (C) Both Jawwal and Wataniya executives privately complain
that their limited frequency allotments (4.8 MHz and 3.8 MHz,
respectively) are a fraction of what their Israeli
competitors operate on, and result in poor service with too
many dropped calls and limited enhancements. As a result,
they lose business to Israeli operators, whose
settlement-based antennae provide strong signals and 3G
capability, even inside urban Palestinian structures.
Comment: ConGen officers whose cellphone service is provided
by an Israeli mobile company routinely get a strong signal in
the West Bank, even when inside PA buildings. Palestinian
executives claim that this must be deliberate, as there are
technical methods that allow operators to prevent unwanted
"bleeding" outside the desired service area. End Comment.


8. (C) West Bank telecom executives also note their inability
to provide 3G services with the frequencies they are
currently assigned, and claim that unregulated broadband
services are available via the settlements, undermining their
own pricing schemes and product development efforts. One
PalTel Board Member told EconChief that an Israeli company is
aggressively marketing a broadband wireless adapter in
Palestinian cities and that, from his Ramallah apartment
window, he has a clear view of a neighboring settlement, from
which he can receive an excellent broadband connection.


9. (SBU) Jawwal and Wataniya executives have grown weary of
discussions on spectrum allocation. They now prefer to focus
on Area C issues and technical improvements to their
services, and have asked for USG assistance in raising the
outstanding Area C permits with the GOI.

RUBINSTEIN