After long battle, mobile company begins operation in West Bank

Ramallah - After a battle of over three years and investments in the millions of US dollars, the joint Qatari- Palestinian Wataniya Mobile company announced Tuesday the start-up of operations in the Palestinian territories. Israel, which controls the Palestinian cyberspace, had refused to grant Wataniya the needed frequencies to start up, forcing the company to threaten to withdraw its 700-million-dollar investment. However, after intense intervention from Quartet representative Tony Blair and world leaders, Israel agreed to release part of the needed frequencies, enough to get the company going but not to deliver competitive and advanced third-generation mobile services. At a press conference to announce the launching of Wataniya Mobile, the second cellular telephone company in the Palestinian areas, Blair said that even though the process of getting things done was very slow, they eventually get done. 'It is a step-by-step process,' he said, praising 'Palestinian perseverance in spite of very difficult conditions.' Getting Wataniya mobile up and running is 'a sign of sovereignty and statehood,' he said. 'It is a symbol and sign of hope in the future - a day when the Palestinian people get their own state.' Palestinian Telecommunication Minister Mashhour Abu Dakka said that Israel always used different pretexts to obstruct Palestinian economic development. 'Every day they (Israel) have a different reason for not granting frequencies,' he said. Sometimes it is security and then they say the frequencies interfere in the movement of flights, he said. However, he explained, the real reason is that Israel does not want to see a Palestinian economy free from its control or able to compete with its own companies. 'We are a captive market of the Israeli economy,' he said. While Israel sold more than two billion dollars of its products in the Palestinian economy, it does not take anything from the Palestinians. Qatari Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, chairman of the Qtel Group, which owns the largest stake in Wataniya Group and who arrived in Ramallah for Wataniya Mobile's launch, said that even though there were political risks in investing in the Palestinian territories, the company nevertheless saw an opportunity for investment and profit. 'The Palestinian telecommunications market has strong prospects for growth,' he said. Wataniya and its local partner, the Palestinian Investment Fund, the Palestinian Authority's investment arm, have invested an initial 140 million dollars in license fees and over 100 million for the build-up of the network. It plans further investments over the next 10 years amounting to 700 million dollars. 'This venture is significant as it represents the largest economic enterprise in Palestine since the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (in 1993),' said Al Thani.