The Information and Communications Technologies Ministry and its affiliated organizations will get 139.88 trillion rials ($466.29 million) next year, according to the fiscal 2022-23 budget bill submitted to the parliament on Dec. 13.
In the proposed budget, the ministry’s funding for the coming fiscal year is up 267% compared to 38.1 trillion rials ($127 million) in the current year that ends in March 2022.
As per the government’s proposal, the ministry’s operational expenditure is set to increase by 167% compared to this year, reaching 16 trillion rials ($53.52 million) from 5.99 trillion rials ($19.96 million), Peivast.com reported.
The ministry is expected to earn 123.83 trillion rials ($412.77 million) from the sale of capital assets, marking an increase of 296% from last year’s 31.23 trillion rials ($104.1 million).
It will have 10.1 trillion rials ($33.7 million) as the operational expenditure budget, with the rest distributed among the ministry’s affiliates.
The lion’s share of the operational budget, equal to 2 trillion rials ($6.8 million), will be allocated to the Communications Regulatory Authority.
Following CRA, the Iranian Space Research Center and the ICT Research Center are expected to receive the respective amounts of 1.6 trillion rials ($5.34 million) and 1 trillion rials ($3.61 million).
Iran Post Company, Iranian Space Agency and the ICT Ministry’s Tech Park are respectively allocated the least amount of operational expenditure budget.
IPC will receive zero rials, ISA 512.4 billion rials ($1.7 million) and the ministry’s tech park will have 699.5 billion rias ($2.33 million).
The ICT Ministry will also have 112.67 trillion rials ($375.5 million) of the capital assets fund and the remaining 11.15 trillion rials ($37.19 million) will go to the ministry’s affiliates.
Iranian Space Agency is planned to receive the largest share of the capital assets fund, equal to 10.92 trillion rials ($36.41 million).
The budgetary figures can change, depending on the approval of lawmakers and the verification of Guardians Council, before it becomes law.
The ministry is expected to largely spend the budget on developing the National Information Network, ICT services and facilities and digital technologies, apart from funding research projects and commercializing new ideas.
NIN was first proposed in 2005 by the ICT Ministry as an alternative and independent network with content compatible with Islamic values to facilitate Iranian users’ access to indigenous content. After a long-running saga, the project was launched in August 2016.
NIN Completion in Four Years
ICT Minister Isa Zarepour earlier declared that the National Information Network project will be completed in four years.
Zarepour added that NIN is one of the country's largest and most eminent ICT initiatives, serving as an infrastructure for electronic and smart service development as well as a powerful platform for the local internet.
“After around two decades of foot-dragging, it is finally time to give the initiative one last push,” he said.
The official stated that in order to address obstacles to NIN expansion, public education about the network's possibilities, the creation of a content generation chain and the convergence of many sectors to use NIN in their activities would be extremely beneficial.
“Budget specification policies should be changed, project implementation efficiency should be improved, foreign and private investors should be attracted, and wastage of money and time should be reduced,” he added.
Domestic ICT enterprises, mobile operators and tech teams should also play a bigger role in NIN development, according to the official.
According to Zarepour, the integrated network will be able to double the present 5% ICT share in Iran's economy and generate a large number of jobs upon its completion.
In December 2020, the ICT Ministry announced that over 80% of NIN’s infrastructure were established.
Former deputy ICT minister, Hamid Fattahi, said the National Information Network’s infrastructure has been developed by up to 80%, through the expansion of fiber optic connections, establishment of communication stations and towers, and a surge in the number of data processing racks and data centers.
“NIN’s components include infrastructure, cyber policies, platforms, ecosystem and content. The development of each helps the completion of NIN project,” he added.
Officials say the ICT Ministry has put maximum effort into boosting NIN’s performance by expanding the network’s data centers and data processing capacity.
