Fourth Generation in Palestine: Between Repeated Israeli Statements and the Missing Reality

Follow-up SadaNews - Palestinian telecommunications companies in the West Bank are set to gain access to fourth-generation (4G) cellular service in the coming months, after years of delays linked to the war in Gaza, according to a report published by the "Times of Israel" today, Tuesday.

In response, informed Palestinian sources told "Sada News": "This is not the first statement issued by the Israeli side regarding providing Palestinian companies with 4G service, yet all these promises have remained ink on paper and have not translated into tangible reality. The necessary technical equipment to operate the service within Palestine is still absent, raising a fundamental question: How can we talk about operating 4G without the basic tools being available?".

Referring back to the details of the Hebrew report, Israel's Ministry of Communications revealed to the Hebrew newspaper that it approved, the day before, agreements recently reached between major Israeli and Palestinian telecommunications companies, facilitating the long-awaited upgrade.

These agreements pave the way for the purchase and delivery of the necessary equipment for 4G, transitioning Palestinian cellular networks from third generation (3G) to fourth generation (4G), with the process expected to take between four to six months before the service becomes operational, according to an Israeli official and a Palestinian official who spoke to the Israeli newspaper on condition of anonymity.

This procedure will not include the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by war, where Israel only permits telecommunications service providers to access much slower second-generation (2G) networks.

A principles agreement reached in December 2022 between the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the Palestinian Authority stipulates that any upgrade in the coastal sector requires a separate approval from the political level in Tel Aviv, which is not expected to be secured in the foreseeable future, according to the Israeli official.

Under former President Joe Biden and Ambassador Tom Nides, the United States pressured Tel Aviv to allow the upgrade in both areas as part of a series of limited steps aimed at boosting the Palestinian economy. This led to the aforementioned 2022 agreement, signed during the Israeli government led by former Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid.

However, communications have faltered following Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, resulting in limited progress throughout most of the past two years.

The Israeli official emphasized that the delay was not politically motivated, asserting that technical and logistical issues from both sides slowed a process that is inherently arduous and complex.

Nevertheless, a Palestinian official viewed the current hardline government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as delaying the transition to 4G due to its broader animosity towards Palestinians, only easing its opposition due to Israel's own desire to halt third-generation (3G) cellular networks.

Israel maintains security control over the West Bank and Gaza Strip and regulates the telecommunications sector in the territories. Despite transitioning to 4G since 2013 and beginning to build ultra-fast fifth-generation (5G) networks and LTE technology in urban centers, Palestinian companies still use third generation networks, for which they obtained permission to use in 2018.

Israeli cellular companies operate extensively in the West Bank, with coverage reaching most Palestinian areas.

According to the agreements between the two sides, Israeli networks are supposed to be limited to serving settlements in the West Bank without encroaching on areas under Palestinian Authority administration. However, the ground reality illustrates that Israeli cellular signals often extend deeply into Palestinian cities.

According to the World Bank, the Palestinian economy lost between $436 million and $1.5 billion from 2013 to 2015 due to the "takeover" of Israeli telecommunications companies over Palestinian customers, accounting for about 30% of the total Palestinian cellular market.

Explaining the gap in access to cellular services, an informed source regarding the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority told the Times of Israel: "The monopolistic nature of the Israeli telecommunications market means that the presence of a Palestinian competitor would cost it a substantial base of potential subscribers in an already small market."