The country's second mobile operator, MTN Irancell, has announced that it has expanded 3G and 4G-LTE services to Tehran Subway.
According to the company, three stations in Tehran Subway's Line 2 and one station in Line 1 have received coverage. The service will soon expand to all other subway stations.
Irancell had previously launched the same service in the subways of Shiraz and Mashhad.
Public WiFi
Last week, the company also launched free public WiFi services at one of the most popular recreational regions in Tehran.
Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi attended the launch in northern Tehran's mountainous Tochal area.
The company's CEO, Alireza Ghalambor Dezfuli, said WiFi services successfully completed their trials, local technology website Zoomit.ir wrote. The service is currently available for customers using Irancell SIM cards.
With the assistance of the Communications Regulatory Authority, the company hopes to expand the service to users of two other mobile operators—Hamrah-e-Aval and RighTel—as well.
The launch of the project was delayed due to identification complications. Users are now allowed access to the network after they register their ID numbers. There are no user comments out yet as to how well the Internet works or at what speed it is.
In the first stage, Tochal public WiFi network was launched during the Iranian New Year holidays (March 21-April 2, 2015). The company will equip several other recreational areas across the country with public WiFi in the near future.
Public WiFi hotspots are a relatively new technology. Prior to the gradual introduction of the service, users had to use Internet cafes.
The use of public WiFi has increased in recent years across the wider Middle East region supported by mobile operators and phone retailers. This push by Irancell will mark a shift by local companies in this regard.
