CEOs of the three prominent mobile operators announced their companies’ plans for the new Iranian year, which started March 21, in a one-day conference on policies, plans, and expectations of communication and information technology industries in Tehran.
Expanding 3G and 4G LTE networks is the focal point of different mobile operators in the event, ISNA reported on Saturday.
MCI
Mobile Communications Iran (Hamra-e-Aval), the largest mobile network operator by number of subscribers in the country, is to refurbish more than 4,000 2nd generation GSM broadcasting antennas and launch 3,300 3G and 4G towers across the country, Vahid Sadooghi, CEO of the company said.
MCI’s main development program in recent years is to upgrade its current ageing infrastructure with new 3G and 4G LTE broadcasting systems, with an initial investment of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of new infrastructure projects, he added.
The official noted that MCI earned 9.63 trillion rials ($284 million at free market rate) in ‘value added services’ in the past fiscal year.
So far, the company has purchased 5,000 sites for mobile broadcasting antennas, 3,300 of which are currently in operation. MCI announced it will buy an additional 2,000 sites by the yearend.
MTN-Irancell
MTN-Irancell, the second largest mobile phone network operator has provided 3G services in more than 200 cities across the country and the number will surpass 500 by March 20, Alireza Ghalambor-zadeh, CEO of the company said.
Fifty cities have access to Irancell’s 4G services and the number will reach 120 by the yearend, he noted.
Ghalambor-zadeh went on to say that 20 million data users are currently using Irancell and the company seeks to boost their potential usage by up to 500 terabytes (TB) per day from its current 200 TB.
The CEO predicted that his company will attract $5.5 billion in investment to develop 3G and 4G networks this year. The sector has already collected $1.3 billion in foreign investment, he added.
RighTel
RighTel, the first 3G mobile operator in Iran, is tasked to expand its broadcast reach by up to 407 cities by the end of the present year, Majid Sadri, CEO of the company said.
The operator sold 1.68 million SIM cards by March 2014 Sadri said. The number hit 5 million by March 2015, registering a 213 percent increase, he noted. The company plans to distribute 10 million SIM cards by March 2016.
RighTel’s active subscribers stood at one million by March 2014, three million by March 2015, and will reach 7 million by March 2016, he said.
Iran’s mobile industry is expected to heat up this year, with traditional internet providers looking to move into the wireless arena. Irancell has in recent months made a push to gain pole position against its older rival MCI, as Iran’s most favored network with a host of different offers and incentives to entice competitors’ clients. Taliya Iran’s second ever GSM network provider has lost its position to become the fourth used network with having a small client base.
