Arab Support
Palestine's telecom minister promises 4G and 5G with Saudi backing
Graphic: Times of Palestine
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The West Bank and Gaza could soon get 4G and 5G mobile services with support from Saudi Arabia and the Riyadh-based Digital Cooperation Organization, Palestinian Telecommunications and Digital Economy Minister Abdel-Razzaq Natsheh said in an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya English published Tuesday.
The promise lands on one of the occupation's least visible ledgers. Palestinian operators were confined to 2G until January 2018, when Israel — which controls the spectrum under the Oslo-era arrangements — finally allowed 3G into the West Bank, a full decade after Israeli carriers had it. Gaza was left on 2G then, and remains on 2G now.
The West Bank's 4G is finally in motion. Israel's communications ministry ratified the agreements between the Palestinian operators Jawwal and Ooredoo and the Swedish equipment maker Ericsson in January, news agencies reported at the time, with a rollout window of up to six months. Jawwal's first-half results this year describe launch preparations underway — and that approval explicitly excluded Gaza.
What Natsheh's remarks add is a funded Arab path for the next generation. The minister has been building the Saudi channel for months: the Digital Cooperation Organization's secretary-general, Deemah AlYahya, received him at the organization's Riyadh headquarters for talks on developing Palestine's digital economy, the Saudi Press Agency reported, and Saudi Arabia's own communications minister has discussed digital-transformation partnership with him directly.
The money behind the promise is documented too. Saudi Arabia pledged one billion dollars for Palestinians at the Board of Peace meeting on 19 February, Al Arabiya reported, and Arab News has reported ninety million dollars in direct Saudi support to the Palestinian Authority this year.
The unfinished pieces are the ones Palestinians know best. No timetable has been announced for a Gaza upgrade; the territory's networks have been wrecked by the war and run on 2G where they run at all; and every frequency a Palestinian operator uses still requires Israeli release.
Fifth-generation service in the West Bank would likewise need spectrum Israel has so far reserved for its own carriers, which have run 4G since 2013 and 5G in their cities for years.
For now the practical sequence is the one already under way: the West Bank's 4G launch first, Saudi and DCO backing for what follows — and the minister's promise on record, dated, for this desk to check against delivery.
