Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel Group)

Palestine Telecommunications Company (Paltel Group) is the telecommunications leader in Palestine, and was established in 1997 as a public shareholding company. The group contributes about 12% to the GDP of Palestine and is the number one employer in the private sector, with more than 3,000 employees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, making it the largest employer after the government. Paltel stock represents 35% of the total market CAP of the Palestine Exchange (PEX). Paltel's net earnings grew from US$ 12.1 million in 2000 to US$ 82 million in 2012, providing the company with financial stability to further invest in technology and synergies across the ICT industry. Today, Paltel Group is an integrated economic group consisting of Paltel, Palestine Telecommunications Company; Jawwal, the Palestine Cellular Communications Company; Hadara, a data services provider; Hulul, the IT support services provider; Palmedia, a multimedia services provider; and Reach, the first contact centre in Palestine. As of end of December 2012, Jawwal has retained 2.58 million mobile subscribers and PalTel has 396,000 fixed and 185,000 ADSL subscribers.