Tehran Suffers Internet Blackout

Some 60% of citizens of the Iranian capital lost access to the Internet due to a major malfunction in the city’s telecoms infrastructure late in the evening on October 24. Deputy Telecoms Minister and Director of Telecommunications Infrastructure Company of Iran Mohammad Javad Jahromi said, “The problem was a failure in the grid sector of one of Tehran’s communication centers [which ended up feeding into other areas].” The company official added that if the same thing had occurred last year, 90% of the country would have lost access to the Internet, Mehr News Agency reported. According to Jahromi, the problem was contained in 25 minutes “and the network stabilized”. This is while several Internet users, including Financial Tribune journalists, reported they had Internet connection issues throughout the day. Internet disconnection issues are a common feature of local ISP providers, with often no warning or explanation as to why the web vanishes for hours. Those who are located in certain areas, where only the state provider can extend Internet services, have often found it unaccountable and unapologetic. However, on this occasion, due to new rules issued by the Telecoms Ministry, the company officially apologized to Tehran’s furious Internet users.