Former Minister Examines Palestine's ICT Sector Profile

Former Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mashhour Abu Daqqa raised questions about the development of the ICT sector in Palestine.

In a January 17, 2017 lecture, Abu Daqqa described the chronology of the sector's development, and explored future trends in telecom services licensing and infrastructure sharing.

Abu Daqqa described how after the Oslo Accords were signed, the telecommunications infrastructure was handed to the Palestinian Authority, which was subjected to the Paris Economic Protocols, an annex to the Oslo Accords. Palestinians established a telecommunications company named Paltel, which was limited by the rules and regulations of the agreements.

The Palestinian government, according to Abu Daqqa, took steps to liberalize mobile telephone and broadband services, price controls, and the bundling of services. The former minister then described the obstacles that Israel has established to hinder the implementation of 3G services in the Palestinian territories.