The video call feature has been piloted by one of the domestic operators on some cellphone brands without installing a software, according to Information and Communications Technologies Minister Isa Zarepour.
In an interview with ISNA, the ICT minister said video calls could be activated by cellphone operators that have been notified of tariffs determined by the Regulation Commission of the Communications Regulatory Agency and approved by the Council of Ministers.
“However, to launch this service, we also need the support of phone manufacturers who should enable this feature on phones marketed in Iran. Currently, this service has been tested on cellphones by one of the operators [Rightel],” he said.
Clarifying that cellphones, their hardware, order registration and import are the responsibilities of the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, Zarepour said the issue is being followed up with the ministries of industries and foreign affairs to ensure that foreign manufacturers of cellphones activate this feature for Iranian subscribers.
Rightel, the third major mobile phone operator in Iran, had announced plans to allow video calls many years ago, but was scuttled when it met with objections based on misplaced sensitivities regarding violation of privacy.
After people turned to social networks for making video calls, the issue was neglected by officials.
One of the main issues of video call is that people should be familiarized with the feature to not feel anxious about its so-called invasive nature. In fact, subscribers have the right to choose the type of calls (video or voice) they intend to take.
After these objections and disagreements waned, the ICT minister announced that subscribers can make a video call via cellphone without installing a software, which will also not cost much.
However, the precise details of how to activate this service and when it would be offered by all domestic cellphone service providers have not been revealed.
Iran’s Fixed, Mobile Internet Speed Decline in February
The speed of the mobile and fixed wireless internet has declined in the second month of 2023 compared to the previous month, according to the Speedtest web service’s latest survey on global internet speed.
Data released by Speedtest.net show Iran’s internet speed (according to the median index) declined a place for fixed wireless internet and that of mobile fell five spots from the previous month.
The website used to use two median and mean (average) indicators to measure the ranking and quality of internet worldwide. The mean index is the average, but the median is the middle point of statistical data. In this report, only median indicator. The website claims that global rankings are reported based on median download speed “to best reflect the speeds a user is likely to experience in a market”.
Iran’s fixed internet speed ranked 147th (out of 180 countries) while mobile internet speed was at 61st place (out of 137 countries) in February.
Median fixed internet download speed is currently 11.27 Mbps, upload speed is 1.97 Mbps and latency is 30 milliseconds. This is while the median mobile internet download speed is 35.03 Mbps, upload speed is 10.5 and latency is 29 milliseconds.
According to Speedtest, the median global mobile internet download speed is 39.77 Mbps, upload speed is 10.18 Mbps and latency is 28 milliseconds. On fixed internet, the download speed is 78.62 Mbps, upload speed is 34.39 Mbps and latency is 9 milliseconds.
The UAE median mobile internet download speed stood at 179.61 Mbps in February to rank first in the world. It was followed by Qatar with 160.33 Mbps, South Korea with 138.46 Mbps, Norway with 131.23 Mbps, Denmark with 123.66 Mbps, Kuwait with 119.79 Mbps, China with 116.7 Mbps, the Netherlands with 114.28 Mbps, Saudi Arabia with 101.88 Mbps and Bahrain with 97.6 Mbps.
For median fixed internet speed, Singapore ranked first with 237.15 Mbps.
China with 226.77 Mbps, Monaco with 226.03 Mbps, Chile with 224.44 Mbps, the UAE with 219.47 Mbps, Thailand with 203.28 Mbps, Denmark with 200.62 Mbps, Hong Kong with 198.53 Mbps, the US with 198.53 Mbps and Spain with 180.3 Mbps came next.
The Iranian government has launched a fiber optic project to improve the quality of fixed internet and intends to eliminate the backlog of internet registration by expanding facilities for users and operators.
