Iran’s Communications and Information Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi took to his Twitter page on Thursday to announce the launch while sending a picture that showed the system was operating smoothly on a mobile phone, Press TV reported.

Azari-Jahromi said the 5G mast is a second of five sites providing superfast Internet that are planned to come on line in Tehran until late September.

A first 5G antenna had been launched in late July in downtown Tehran by the Iranian mobile operator, MTN Irancell, which is Iran’s second mobile operator.

The company and first operator MCI are planning to expand 5G coverage as they eye a massive growth in revenues from online services in the upcoming years.

The fourth generation of mobile data, known as 4G, had reached thousands of cities and villages across Iran. The current penetration rate for the service in the country is more than 60 percent, on par with many developed and developing countries around the world.

Increased Internet access has caused a major boom for online businesses in Iran while it has enabled the government to provide remote and low-cost services, including those desperately needed by the Iranians during the spread of the new coronavirus pandemic in the country.

The government is intent on using high-speed Internet services for schools across Iran.

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.