Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi expounded on the performance and plans of Iran’s communication network.
In a press conference held for introducing Iran’s Telecommunications Infrastructure Company’s new projects on Monday, the minister said the IT sector currently has an $11.2 billion share in Iran’s economy.
“By creating more than 100,000 jobs, the government is aiming to triple this share by the end of the tenure of the current administration,” he said.
“When President Hassan Rouhani took office, only 10% of Iranians were using indigenously produced content, which number has risen by 31% and is still rising,” he said.
The minister added that the government will support the private sector and academic bodies that establish Persian social networking websites.
For instance, the entire television marketplace in Iran and abroad is being rewritten and Iran’s ICT Ministry is trying to keep pace with the changing international vision.
Until a few years ago, satellite and terrestrial TV pretty much had a lock on the television marketplace. That is because there was no competitor to challenge their long dominance.
Now with the growth of non-traditional media, national and private broadcasters have to reformat their offering or lose a large number of their audience, as the viewer demographic is changing rapidly.
In order to do so, Vaezi said his ministry is facilitating Internet TV service providers by reducing Internet tariffs.
Vaezi said “the license for Iran’s fourth optic fiber operator has been renewed”, though he did not name the company.
The minister explained that for providing landline services, the fourth operator should negotiate with TIC and Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority.
“The ministry will assist the company in these negotiations,” he said.
If and when they are launched, the new optic fiber landline services will not interfere with the activities of previous telecoms companies.
Following reports concerning the online leakage of personal data of nearly 20 million subscribers of Iran’s second largest mobile operator, MTN-Irancell, Vaezi said CRA has established a highly secure data center to safeguard citizens’ personal information.
“In addition to devising legal provisions, the operators will not risk their reputation and are willing to take all possible measures to prevent such incidents in future,” he said.
