The seventh round of Iran Telecom Conference was held in Tehran on September 12 to review recent developments in the domestic communications and Internet industries.
Dubbed ITC 2017, the one-day event focused on ‘digital transformation’, investment in infrastructure and innovation services, the local technology website ICTNA reported.
Digital transformation is the profound transformation of business and organizational activities, processes and business models to fully leverage the changes and opportunities of a mix of digital technologies and their accelerating impact in a strategic and prioritized way.
Local and international companies participated in the event and panel discussions were held on current and future developments in the industry.
Like the previous round, Mobile Virtual Network Operators and Video-on-Demand services were also in the spotlight.
A MVNO is a wireless communications service provider that does not own the mobile network infrastructure over which it offers the services to customers but pays a fee to the network operators.
VOD is an online system allowing users to select and watch/listen to video or audio content when they choose to.
Underdeveloped Infrastructure
The majority of speeches were about the lack of proper infrastructure, high Internet tariffs and legal void in the key sector.
Among the participants were Hossein Fallah Joshaqani, deputy director of Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority, Behzad Akbari member of the board of director of the Telecommunication Infrastructure Company, and Hassan Shanesazzadeh, founder and chairman of the board of Shatel, Iran’s largest private internet service provider and the country’s first commercialized MVNO.
Shanesazzadeh said “Regulating the sector is of utmost importance. There is a legal void in the telecom industry which has hindered growth.”
Akbari pointed out that underdeveloped infrastructure and high costs are the main hurdles in the way of the industry. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology recently unveiled a scheme for cutting Internet tariffs. So far it remains only on paper.
Foreign delegates were also present at the event, including Thomas Kuruvilla, director of Arthur D. Little Company a management consultancy active in the Middle East and South Asia, and Ireneusz Piecuch, head of Telecoms in the Central and Eastern Europe Department of CMS — one of the largest international law firms active in the telecoms industry.
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