Ammon News - Bethlehem/Amman - The board of directors at the Palestinian Telecommunications Company (PalTel) announced on Thursday that an agreement with Jordan's Zain Telecommunication Network had been cancelled.

In May, the two mobile giants signed a deal described as the largest commercial deal in the history of the Palestinian territories.

In a brief statement that followed a board meeting in Amman on Thursday, PalTel announced that it had cancelled the summer agreement because Zain was unable to fulfill its basic conditions.

PalTel operates Jawwal, a mobile network with 1.5 million subscribers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Over the summer, PalTel became Zain's exclusive owner when it bought 100 percent of Bella Investment Group's stake of which Zain Jordan owned 96.516 percent. Zain bought 56.53 percent of PalTel in the deal, while 3.484 percent of Bella was exchanged for PalTel stock.

The West Bank's second mobile phone provider, Wataniya Palestine, launched service on Sunday.

Wataniya is owned by Kuwait's National Mobile Telecommunications, a unit of Qatar Telecommunications (QTEL), and a holding company for Palestinian public assets. (Ma’an)