Palestinians in the “West Bank” are finally getting high-speed mobile data services, after a yearslong Israeli ban.

Palestinian cell phone providers Wataniya and Jawwal are expected to launch 3G broadband services in the “West Bank” by the end of this month, Palestinian officials said, after Israel assigned frequencies and allowed the import of equipment.

“It’s about time,” Wataniya CEO Durgham Maraee said of the anticipated launch, speaking to The Associated Press at company headquarters in the “West Bank” last week. “It has taken a very, very long time.”

The belated move to 3G comes a decade after Palestinian operators first sought Israeli permits and at a time when faster 4G is increasingly available in the Middle East.

This keeps Palestinian mobile companies at a continued disadvantage, including in competition with Israeli companies that offer 3G and 4G coverage to Palestinian customers in the West Bank through towers installed in Israeli settlements. The World Bank has criticized this state of affairs because the Israeli firms do not pay license fees or taxes to the Palestinian authorities.

The Israeli ban on 3G also remains in place in Gaza, making that Palestinian territory, dominated by the terrorist group Hamas, one of the last without such services across the globe. Mobile internet is available in far-flung places, from the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan to the Atlantic’s volcanic rock island of Ascension.

In blocking 3G for years, Israel has cited security concerns, without going into details. Officials suggest, for example, that high-speed mobile data could make it easier for Palestinian terrorists to communicate while reducing the risk of Israeli surveillance.

Israel’s Shin Bet security agency declined comment Sunday.

COGAT, an Israeli Defense Ministry branch, said it worked on implementing a 2015 memorandum of understanding with the Palestinians on 3G, and that it expects a launch in two to three weeks. Officials did not respond to questions about Israel’s yearslong ban on 3G.

(AP)