Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority has recently released a report on the infrastructure and services related to information and communication technologies in the country during the second quarter of the current Iranian year (June 21-Sept. 21).
The report presents a detailed analytical review of both communication services (landline telephony and mobile network) and internet services (landline and mobile broadband data connection).
According to CRA, the number of landline telephone subscribers reaches 28.7 million, of which 27.7 million belong to users in urban areas.
In the second section, CRA focuses on expansion of communication services in rural areas, illustrating that the number of villages with landline telephony infrastructures has reached 52,166, of which 47,934 have active subscribers.
The infrastructures have been developed mainly by state-owned operator Telecommunications Company of Iran and HiWEB, with the former covering 51,426 spots and the latter servicing 740 villages.
The number of rural subscribers of landline telephony has reached 3.99 million.
CRA says there are 92,620 public telephones around the country.
Mobile Communication
In another section, the report illustrates that the penetration rate of mobile network in the country has reached 150% with over 125 million active SIM cards by mid-September.
The penetration rate in the year-ago period was 142.11%.
Mobile connectivity in Iran is offered by three main operators, namely Mobile Telecommunications Company of Iran (called Hamrah-e Avval in Persian), MTN-Irancell and RighTel. The three companies respectively have an 80.34%, 63.75% and 4.96% share of the market.
The CRA report shows MCI has so far sold 94.7 million SIM cards, of which 67.5 million are active. The company has more than 26,000 4G stations around the country. Irancell has sold over 90 million SIM cards, 53.5 million of which are active.
The third and the less popular operator, RighTel has sold 8.5 million SIM cards, of which only 4.1 million are active. Irancell and RighTel have respectively established 29,000 and 1,414 stations for 4G communication services nationwide.
In another chart, CRA shows MCI has expanded its mobile communication services to 1,321 cities, 44,918 villages and 74,596 kilometers of intercity and rural roads.
Irancell follows MCI by covering 1,314 cities, 18,127 villages and 57,763 kilometers of road.
RighTel comes last, offering its services to 454 cities, 604 villages and 23,819 kilometers of road.
Broadband Internet
The report shows that demand for landline internet services is expanding at a snail’s pace.
According to the charts, the penetration rate of landline internet was only 11.28% by the end of the three months.
CRA reports that 9.47 million subscribers use different technologies of landline internet services, including xDSL with 7.7 million subscribers, FTTX with 118,000, WiFi with 313,000 and TD-LTE with 1.2 million subscribers.
Over 8.4 million out of the total users around the country are household users and 1 million are business outlets.
Mobile internet, on the contrary, is being rapidly developed in the country, with a penetration rate of 91.07%. The total number of 3G and 4G mobile internet subscribers has reached 76.5 million.
Iran’s top mobile operator has the largest share, with 37.8 million users. It is followed by Irancell with 35.4 million and RighTel with 3.2 million internet subscribers.
Plans Underway
Iran’s ICT Ministry plans to provide all villages with over 20 households with access to speedy connections by March 2021.
These efforts are in line with the Universal Service Obligation Plan, proposed by the ICT Ministry, for providing broadband internet access to rural areas.
Officials believe that increasing the access of users, corporations and organizations to the internet can increase economic productivity and promote social welfare. Internet access increases traditional business activities and interactions via new strategies.
Rural craftsmen and farmers in Iran are now able to conduct their businesses through online platforms, directly interact with customers and exclude middlemen.
The promotion of ICT in rural areas also helps build novel industries and businesses.
The development of internet connection has also helped curb educational disparity and offer free education to all students through online platforms.
Utilizing the integrated ICT infrastructures, officials have connected all urban and rural schools with high-speed internet, giving school students of all grades access to online education.
According to ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, with the connection of 44,000 schools in less-developed rural areas to the educational network in early October, the number of schools with internet access has crossed 86,000.
“This prepares the ground for promoting virtual education. The implementation of the plan was slated to finish by the end of the last Iranian yearend [March 2020], but impediments in supplying equipment delayed the work,” Jahromi told reporters.
“The ICT Ministry is also designing a project to provide high-speed internet access to all universities by the current [fiscal] yearend [March 2021].”
Jahromi noted that there are around 1,000 universities around the country, which will be connected to the internet via optic fibers.
