In 1997, Hutchison Whampoa Limited and a group of local investors formed Partner Communications Company Ltd. ("Partner"), the first GSM network operator in Israel. Partner received its licence to operate a nationwide mobile telecommunications network in April 1998, and launched commercial service in January 1999 under the orange™ brand. Partner is a public company listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and its American Depositary Shares are quoted on The Nasdaq National Market. Hutchison Telecom is Partner's largest shareholder, with an equity interest of approximately 50.2% as of 31 December 2007. Partner was included in the new NASDAQ Global Select Market tier for public companies. The new tier incorporates NASDAQ's world-class corporate governance standards. By 30 September 2008, Partner had approximately 2.9 million customers including approximately 901,000 3G customers, making it Israel's second-largest mobile operator.