Palestinian ICT Sector - Brief

The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has a significant influence on the development of the Palestinian infrastructure and on the quality of living. The ICT sector has an imminent role in shaping the future of Palestine as it facilitates the ability for Palestinians to communicate with others locally and globally regardless to the Israeli occupation and its negative drawbacks.
Economic experts gave high marks to the Palestinian ICT sector for its viability and ability to aid the development of the Palestinian economy. International outsourcing experts attested in a recent published PITA study that the Palestinian outsourcing industry is capable of sustaining multiple concurrent IT development projects at levels of quality, timeline and customer satisfaction as buyers would expect from a global IT outsourcing services provider. 
Further, economic experts consider the ICT sector as the essential driver to the development of the Palestinian economy. The experts stressed in a study published by the Development Alternative Incorporation (DAI) that despite the current political situation and the Israeli suffocating  policies, the ICT sector stands on top of other economic sectors in its readiness to expand Palestinian economic base and significantly penetrate regional and international markets.
Palestine is leaping forward in the ICT world where statistics show a huge increase in the number of households that use ICT technology. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics 49.2% of the households have a computer at home and 19.2% of the households have an internet. Other significant statistics such as the number of people using cell phones indicate that it has more than doubled from the year 2004.
As of 2007 year end, ICT sector contributed about 10-12% of the GDP with a market size of around $500 million. There are approximately 250 ICT companies, 150 small computer stores, more than 150 Internet Cafes in the West Bank and Gaza and over 5300 individuals working in the sector.  Palestinian ICT companies cover wide spectrum of the ICT market including hardware distributors, software development firms, office automation vendors, and internet service providers, and telecommunications companies, ICT consulting and training companies.
The Palestinian private ICT sector is organized and governed by a strong established ICT association: the Palestinian IT Association of companies (PITA).  PITA has a vibrant advocacy policy to positively affect and influence government's ICT regulations. PITA also has open communication channels with different key decision makers and major stakeholders in the Palestinian community to help advance the ICT sector. 
The ICT sector is facing different challenges, most of which stems from the lack of intellectual property rights regulations (IPR), and volatile external environment. Against this background, PITA's strategy 2012 - 2015 is to enhance the external business environment by developing the regulatory process and fighting monopolistic activities in support of open, transparent and competitive market.

* You may review different studies on the Palestinian ICT at PITA's website: www.pita.ps