Communication infrastructures have covered 100% of Iranian metropolitan areas and 95% of rural districts, information and communications technologies minister said.
Releasing a statement on the occasion of World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (May 17), Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi also highlighted Iran’s ICT development and acknowledged the contribution of industry insiders, ICT Ministry’s website, Ict.gov.ir, reported.
According to the official, 98% of Iranians have access to reliable and high-speed communication services and the broadband internet network has over 80 million subscribers.
“Infrastructures have been established for online education nationwide with over 76,000 schools and educational centers being connected to the internet,” Jahromi said.
“With over 13 million students, 1 million teachers, 4 million university students and 140,000 professors using online educational facilities around the country, ICT growth plays a critical role in people's daily lives.”
The minister noted that electronic commerce has been promoted as a result of the establishment of ICT infrastructures and numerous startups have blossomed all over the country, providing online client services such as on-demand car washing and house cleaning, home technical maintenance, retail and education.
He added that the promotion of communications technologies makes life easier for the general public, particularly during the pandemic.
“We are ahead of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan [2017-22] by 16%,” he said.
“Internet and social media have become an inseparable part of life and economy, such that nearly all small and large enterprises use different online platforms to expand their businesses.”
Underlining the fact that communication justice is part of social justice, Jahromi said maximum effort has been made for expanding the country’s ICT infrastructures.
Integrated Network
The ICT minister attributed the development to the establishment of the National Information Network launched in August 2016 as an alternative and independent network with content compatible with Islamic values to facilitate Iranian users’ access to indigenous content.
In December 2020, the ICT Ministry announced that it has established over 80% of the integrated network’s infrastructure 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.
Deputy ICT Minister Hamid Fattahi said the completion of NIN will remove the deficiencies and improve the quality of internet and mobile connections in rural areas.
He noted that the ICT Ministry has put maximum effort into boosting NIN’s performance by expanding the network’s data centers and data processing capacity.
In mid-September 2020, the first phase of a major database was launched in Bumehen, east of Tehran, with an investment of 4 trillion rials ($17.46 million) by the Telecommunications Infrastructure Company.
The project is aimed at bolstering NIN, expanding the country’s communications infrastructure and materializing a digital economy.
Online Education
The National Information Network aims to curb educational disparity by offering free education to all students through online platforms.
By utilizing the integrated ICT infrastructures, officials have connected all urban and rural schools with high-speed internet, in order to give the school students of all grades access to online education.
According to the ICT minister, with the connection of 44,000 schools in less-developed rural areas to the educational network in early October 2020, the number of schools with internet access has crossed 76,000.
“This prepares a strong groundwork for facilitating virtual education. The plan was expected to be completed by the end of last Iranian year [March 2020], but impediments in supplying equipment put off the work till the present,” he said.
Speaking to reporters, Jahromi said the ICT Ministry is also designing a project to provide high-speed internet access to all universities by the fiscal yearend (March 2022).
According to the minister, the country has about 1,000 universities that will be connected to NIN via fiber optic.
Schools closed days after the coronavirus outbreak was detected in the then-epicenter of Qom, located in the central parts of Iran.
The use of internet in the last school year drew criticism, as many students in underdeveloped regions lacked the technological means to participate in classes.
Providing internet connection to schools has wavered for a long period, as the ICT and education ministries’ initiative last year to upgrade schools into smart educational centers was focused on putting an end to the long saga of educational disparity.
The agreement between the two ministries includes various measures, such as connecting all schools to NIN and equipping them with modern tools needed by students and teachers.
Statistical Report
In July last year, the ICT minister presented a statistical report on the development of NIN in different sectors.
“Digital services are one of the potential sectors for growth and for creating jobs,” he said.
Jahromi stressed that the digital economy accounted for 3.68% of Iran’s GDP in 2013-14 and its share increased to 4.11% in 2017-18 and jumped to 6.5% in 2019-20.
Underlining the remarkable expansion of NIN, Jahromi said the capacity of transport layers in the network was 680 gigabytes per second in 2013-14.
“Two years later, the capacity reached 4,000 gigabytes per second and expanded to 18,000 gigabytes per second in 2019-20. The capacity of NIN data centers in terms of active racks has increased from 210 to 1,830 since 2013,” he said.
The connection speed for mobile and cable internet subscribers was respectively 0.218 and 0.256 megabits per second in 2013-14.
The speed went up to 2.5 and 4.8 megabits per second respectively in 2017-18 and to 10 and 6.2 in 2019-20.
Referring to internet access in rural areas, Jahromi said data coverage has increased from 0 to 94% since 2013.
In 2018, when the United States reimposed sanctions against Iran, the country faced economic challenges resulting in a total added value of 3.7% in the economy, while the ICT sector registered a 31.3% growth rate in the same year.
Noting that all these achievements have been made because of young talents helping develop the technology ecosystem, the minister said, “Information technology is one of the important tools for increasing productivity. Data indicate that the digital economy is a potential alternative for an oil-based economy.”
Jahromi then presented a brief account of ICT projects planned in the current Iranian year (ending March 2022).
These include the launch of more data centers, extension of data coverage in rural areas, a local operating system for mobile phones and the further development of communications infrastructure.
