The Monitor 4-4-2013
Palestinians Hope US Will Break 3G Impasse
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By: Charlotte Alfred for Al-Monitor. Posted on April 4. |
Palestinian telecom experts are cautiously hopeful that US interest in their campaign for 3G access could unlock the industry’s financial and creative potential. The Palestinian Authority (PA) years ago authorized the mobile providers Jawwal and Wataniya to provide 3G services, but for them to do so also required agreement by Israel to allow them access to the necessary frequencies and to import equipment. The Israelis have for six years rejected their requests.
When US President Barack Obama, a Blackberry enthusiast, visited last month, a Palestinian media consultant plastered West Bank cities with posters reminding him to leave his smartphone at home.
The stunt attracted the attention of US media, and according to its creator, Maher Alawneh, inquiries by US officials. During his visit, Obama referred to the West Bank tech sector, praising the “talent and entrepreneurial spirit of the Palestinian people.” Sabri Saidam, an IT adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said he hopes the attention will translate into action. “I hope that the US administration will put pressure on Israel. Telecommunications can be the first income generator in Palestine,” he told Al-Monitor.
The PA, currently facing one of its worst budget crises, estimates that it is losing $150 million each year in tax revenue because Palestinians use Israeli providers, who offer services that Palestinian companies cannot. Private sector growth would relieve some of the pressure on the West Bank economy, which is aid dependent and heavy on the public sector. Having 3G access would also boost Palestinian start-ups that have already developed successful smartphone apps, said George Khadder, a co-founder of the tech-entrepreneur network Peeks (slang for “Palestinian geeks”). A sustainable Palestinian tech industry must include local innovation, as well as provide outsourced services, Peeks argues.
Meanwhile Saidam, who is also a business school lecturer, noted the humanitarian implications of technology developed for local needs. He cited the possibility of Palestinians using telemedicine to facilitate treatment in the besieged Gaza Strip and e-learning to gain access to world-class education. Such capabilities depend, however, on a negotiation process that is currently mired in accusations and countercharges of foul play.
In the 1995 Oslo Accords establishing the PA, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators agreed to share the electromagnetic spectrum, which includes frequencies for television, radio and mobile services. A joint technical committee (JTC) was created to discuss the requirements of each side. According to the accords, the Palestinians were to present their spectrum needs, and the JTC would deliver them within one month. In practice, however, the forum has achieved little.
Israel accuses the Palestinians of undermining the committee by directly registering its broadcast frequencies with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), while Palestinian officials counter that they had no other choice because of delaying tactics by the Israelis. “Every time we came close to [getting] a new frequency, Israel would say it’s a matter of national defense,” Saidam told Al-Monitor. Palestinian officials came to the conclusion that Israel regards their access to technology as hinging on a final peace deal, he said.
In the meantime, Palestinian officials say Israel has used the years since Oslo without progress in peace talks to cement its control over the airwaves. Government and business leaders complain that Israel is propping up its telecom sector at the expense of Palestinian providers by refusing to release more frequencies, as Israeli telephone and 3G services are available throughout the West Bank. Israel says this is merely unintentional spillover.
In June 2012, Israel told Palestinian JTC delegates that there was no 3G spectrum left for them to use, so Palestinian companies would have to rent access from Israeli providers. The proposal kills any prospect for an “independent and competitive” telecom sector, Saidam said. “It will be Israel reselling services rather than our initiative. Israeli services will always be able to offer a cheaper price.” The PA asserts that two Israeli providers were granted 3G spectrum after the original Palestinian request in 2006. There have been no further talks since mid-2012.
In exasperation, last fall PA telecommunications minister Safa Nasser Eldin made public her ministry’s communications with Israel on the matter and got the ITU to launch an investigation into obstacles to telecom development in Palestine. Saidam said upgrading Palestine’s membership status at the ITU is also “in the cards.” Experience suggests that more will be needed for a breakthrough. A series of ITU resolutions on Palestine have yet to be implemented.
Of significance, the only memorable success from Israeli-Palestinian telecom negotiations—securing the spectrum necessary to launch the second Palestinian mobile network in 2009—took years of intensive international pressure led by Quartet envoy Tony Blair. According to a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks, by 2010 the two Palestinian mobile companies had given up on obtaining more frequency from Israel.
“Without being pressured from the international community, namely, the US, to act, history has taught us that Israel will not budge,” said Sam Bahour, a Palestinian telecom industry expert.
There are few illusions about Palestine’s place on the US list of priorities. Even Alawneh says that while his posters were designed to the get the attention of 3G-dependent Americans and Europeans, he “expected nothing” from Obama’s visit. Some Palestinians were concerned that his campaign trivialized the life-and-death consequences of Israel’s occupation and, if seized upon, would have enabled the United States and the PA to bypass more fundamental issues.
Peeks’ Khadder said securing US pressure on the 3G issue would only “score superficial points” and called the initiative “Show and Tell with no real substance.” The priority issue, noted Bahour, is the PA having full access to all its economic resources. “Our spectrum in the air is just as militarily occupied as the land and the water underneath the land,” he said.
Saidam contends that the torturous pace of the JTC will stop the Palestinians from keeping up with the rapidly changing trajectory of telecom development. Israel plans to allocate 4G spectrum to its mobile providers by the end of this year. “Technology use is high in Palestine, but with the existing impediments it’s hard to see any progress,” he warned.
Charlotte Alfred is a freelance journalist and former editor at Ma’an News Agency. Follow her on Twitter @charlottealfred.