Can I buy a sim card in Palestine? : Normally, when you travel to another country you keen to be in touch with your family or friends either to reassure them that you arrived safely or tell them about your trip details and what you see throughout the trip. In addition, if you come as a volunteer or an intern you might need to stay in connection with your Palestinian friends or your host family members as well as in case of emergency.
This requires in most cases to have mobile sim card in the destination country. In Palestine buying a sim card is super easy and cost almost nothing. Let’s start by mentioning that there are two big telecommunication companies in Palestine; Jawwal and Al-Wataniya mobile where they offer cellular communication services to their clients at affordable prices.
Jawwal is the first Palestinian telecommunications company to operate in the West Bank and Gaza. Jawwal succeeded in making the first call on its network in 1999, after obtaining the license in Gaza and West Bank. Jawwal has chosen the world’s most widely used mobile telecommunications system that is in line with the rapid technological developments in communications, and it contracted with the Swedish company “Ericsson” to import key equipment. Check their website in English on the following link : http://www.jawwal.ps/index.php
Ooredoo Palestine is the second Palestinian cellular communications company that established in 2006 in partnership with Qtel, the first telecommunications services company in the State of Qatar, and at the same time one of the largest public companies operating in the country. Check their website in English on the following link : http://www.wataniya.ps/en
How much the sim card and calls cost ?
The two Palestinian companies offer sim cards at affordable prices ranging from 10-20 Shekels depending on the offer and in some occasions you can get it for free and you just have to pay for the credit.
Calls here is cheap where local calls costs 16-25 cents every minute depending on the chosen calls program. Calls toward United States and Europe and the Arab countries cost about 1.50 – 1.80 Shekels per minute. In addition, calls toward Jordan is the cheapest among international calls where one minute costs 89 cents. The other of the countries in the world might a minute costs around 3-4 Shekels.
Is the 3G feature work in Palestine ?
Recently, the Third Generation (3G) feature became available in Palestine. It used to be not available because Israel since 2006 has been refused to grant Palestinian mobile operators Jawwal and Wataniya Mobile the 3G frequencies until reached an agreement with certain conditions enable Israeli telecommunication companies control the granting of service to Palestinian companies.
This refusal seen by preventing the Palestinian companies from importuning the required equipment to operate this feature in the Palestinians territories, as these companies have no freedom in importuning such equipment without the approval of the Israeli authorities.
How the telecommunication sector affected by the occupation policies ?
A report issued by the World Bank estimated that the mobile phone sector in the Palestinian territories has lost more than $ 1 billion in the past three years due to Israeli restrictions.
This sector has been disrupted by years of delays as well as the presence of Israeli companies that operating without a permit in the Palestinian market and the restrictions imposed by Israel on the importing the equipment.
It worth mentioning that Palestinian minister of communications and Information Technology recently signed an agreement with the Israeli side that permits the operation of 3G frequencies in the Palestinian territories but without any executive steps yet.