The speeds of fixed wireless internet have increased in March 2023, while that of mobile internet remained unchanged 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) settled one place higher for fixed wireless internet while that of mobile remained unchanged compared to the previous month.
The website used 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. It 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 146th (out of 180 countries) while mobile internet speed was at 61st place (out of 137 countries) in March.
Median fixed internet download speed is currently 11.57 Mbps, upload speed is 1.97 Mbps and latency is 30 milliseconds. This is while the median mobile internet download speed is 36.33 Mbps, upload speed is 10.92 and latency is 29 milliseconds.
According to Speedtest, the median global mobile internet download speed is 41.54 Mbps, upload speed is 10.42 Mbps and latency is 28 milliseconds. On fixed internet, the download speed is 79 Mbps, upload speed is 34.92 Mbps and latency is 9 milliseconds.
The UAE’s median mobile internet download speed stood at 178.25 Mbps in March to rank first in the world. It was followed by Qatar with 174.56 Mbps, Norway with 143.55 Mbps, Kuwait with 135.63 Mbps, Denmark with 129.95 Mbps, South Korea with 120.38 Mbps, the Netherlands with 114.19 Mbps, China with 109.09 Mbps, Bulgaria with 103.72 Mbps and Bahrain with 102.45 Mbps.
For median fixed internet speed, Singapore ranked first with 237.15 Mbps.
the UAE with 221.87 Mbps, Chile with 220.39 Mbps, China with 216.83 Mbps, Denmark with 203.78 Mbps, Thailand with 201.02 Mbps, Monaco with 199.19 Mbps, the US with 197.84 Mbps, Hong Kong with 197.24 Mbps and Romania with 179.65 Mbps came next.
The Iranian government has launched a fiber optic project to improve the quality of fixed internet and eliminate the backlog of internet registration by expanding facilities for users and operators.
4 Domestic Messengers Interlinked
With the addition of a new feature, users of four domestic messengers may send messages to each other.
Reports indicate that the interconnection feature is now available for four domestic messengers: Bale, Eitaa, iGap and Gap, through which users can send messages to their contacts in the other three messengers, ISNA reported.
To use the interconnection feature, users should agree to receive messages through the other messengers in the privacy and security section of the settings of each of the domestic messengers.
Information and Communications Technologies Minister Isa Zarepour has promised to add this feature to two other messengers, Soroush Plus and Rubika, in the near future.
Internal connection between messengers or MXP makes it possible to send messages from an Iranian messenger to other similar domestic platforms.
According to the developers of this feature, there are two methods for facilitating internal communication between messengers (or MXP), and the domestic platforms use the automatic method. In this method, the MXP server automatically selects the most desired destination (server) for sending a message from one messenger to another.
Before the official announcement of interconnection between domestic messengers, Mehdi Anjidani, the CEO of Gap, an Iranian messenger, announced that the interconnection between domestic platforms was successful.
“The Gap version 9.15 will be unveiled with a new feature that can connect to another messengers’ server and communication with this app with all [domestic] messengers will be provided to users. The Android version, the web version and the desktop version of the chat will be released first and the iOS version of GAP with this feature for iPhone users will be available after the release of these versions,” he said.
The new feature gives domestic messengers an upper hand over foreign counterparts and may increase their popularity among Iranian users.
Reports indicate that the users of domestic messengers and social media apps have increased considerably over the past two and a half months.
One of the main reasons behind the proliferation of new messaging apps is the filtering of popular messengers and social media platforms after the nationwide protests in the past few months.
According to statistics released by the Information and Communications Technologies Ministry, Eitaa, Bale and Rubika had 15.2 million, 9.8 million and 35 million active monthly users respectively until Dec. 6, 2022.
Compared with the data announced on Feb. 20, the number of monthly users of these platforms shows a rise of 6 million, 5 million and 3 million, respectively.
