Figures by the CRA published in ISNA showed that the number of active SIM cards in Iran had reached 121,092,232 by June 20.

That is a 2.07 percent increase compared to the quarter ending on March 19, 2020 and a substantial surge against figures reported early last year, Press TV reported.

Other reports have suggested that the total number of SIM cards assigned in Iran is reaching 200 million, with a majority of them of the prepaid type and issued by the country’s second largest mobile operator MTN Irancell.

Iran, a country of nearly 85 million, has a saturated mobile market where many people, including those living in rural and underdeveloped regions, are currently covered by the third and fourth generation of mobile services.

CRA figures showed MTN’s market share had decreased to nearly 43 percent while largest mobile operator MCI had increased its share to nearly 54 percent. Two small regional operators, namely Rightel and TKC, were confined to fewer than 4 percent of the market share, showed charts provided by the regulator.

Unlike MTN Irancell, which boasts of its huge prepaid customer base, MCI largely relies on postpaid SIM cards for its operations in the country. The state operator has been behind a major government scheme to provide online education services for pupils during school closures related to the spread of the coronavirus in Iran. That could partly justify the increase in MCI’s market share between March and June.

The CRA also said that coverage of mobile services on roads across Iran had increased by 8.01 percent on a quarterly basis, to reach 94.42 percent in late June.

IRNA cited figures by CRA as saying that coverage of third and fourth generation of mobile Internet had increased from 12 percent of the population in 2013 to nearly 83 percent this year.

It said the total number of 3G and 4G SIM cards owned by Iranians had exceeded 100 million, adding that around 70 million are currently using the high-speed services on an active basis.

The total number of mobile phone subscribers in Iran, a country of nearly 85 million, is currently around 120 million, said the report.

Fast Internet is currently accessible across 83 percent of Iran’s roads and railways, said the report, adding that the figure was almost zero in 2006 according to CRA figures.

The report said, however, that increased coverage of mobile Internet in Iran had come at the expense of reduced access to fast broadband.

The figures showed that using fast broadband had declined to cover only 10 percent of users in Iran this year, down from 42 million users or 53 percent of the population in 2017.

Increased use of high-speed mobile Internet in Iran has come despite restrictions imposed on the country’s access to equipment and technologies needed to expand the communication services sector.

The restrictions, imposed by the United States, have mainly targeted foreign companies delivering key equipment and expertise to Iran.

 

Iran is planning to introduce ultrafast services of the fifth generation of Internet, known as 5G, in the current calendar year ending March 2021.