Jawwal

Jawwal was established in 1999 and obtained the first mobile license in the Palestinian territories, operating with GSM communications.[3] The service first launched in Gaza on August 15, 1999 and then to the West Bank on October 2 the same year.[4]

In October 2001, Jawwal experienced difficulties on account of the seizure of its equipment by the Israeli authorities in order to hinder its growth and limit its network reach; for about two years, the company was unable to sell new lines or expand its customer base in order to maintain the level of its services commensurate with its network capacity.[5]

In 2005, Jawwal created a novel method to overcome this barrier by adopting communication switchboards in London, resulting in it becoming the first cellular communication company in the world that serves its subscribers across switchboards thousands of miles away from its headquarters.[6] Later in 2005, Jawwal obtained ISO 14001 Certificate for Environmental Management System (EMS).[7]

By the end of 2007, Jawwal had 1 million subscribers, and doubled by April 2010.[8] In 2012 Jawwal reached more than 2.45 million subscribers.[9]

In 2017, Jawwal contracted with Ericsson to import the main devices and equipment to start providing 3G services to its subscribers.[10] By the end of 2017 the total number of its subscribers reached 2.9 million subscribers and reached 3 million by the first quarter of 2018,[11] where Jawwal’s market share of the Palestinian cellular market is 75% of the Palestinian market.[12]

Jawwal serves its subscribers through 26 showrooms, more than 400 exclusive dealers and thousands of point of sale operators and offers international roaming services with more than 436 operators in over 170 countries and has coverage up to 98% of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.[13][14][15]

Jawwal has struggled with the limited frequency allocated to Jawwal by the Israeli authorities. Jawwal started offering 3G services commercially on 23 January 2018.[16] 4G LTE services are unavailable.[17]