Bezeq - Or Yehuda telephone exchange. Photo: David Shai.

Bezeq, Israel’s oldest and most dominant telecommunications provider, on Sunday opened its newest customer service center—inside a mosque.

The unique facility, located in the Bedouin village of Hura near Beersheba, will provide customer service to the company’s Internet subscribers.

The project, launched in cooperation with the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry and the Joint Distribution Committee, aims to provide employment opportunities to local Bedouin women. As of now, 50 women are employed at the facility, but additional women will be hired in the near future.

Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Shalom Simhon, who dedicated the new project, said Sunday that “incorporating the Negev’s Bedouin population into the workforce is a national goal of the highest importance.”

Bezeq CEO Avi Gabbay remarked that “the aim of opening this facility in Hura is to provide employment opportunities in the periphery and the empowerment of women.”