Inauguration of Irancell Projects by the ICT Minister
The ceremony of Irancell projects inauguration on the occasion of 44th anniversary of the victory of Islamic Revolution was held on February 2nd, 2023 at the presence of Minister of ICT in Irancell headquarters
Completion of Phase 1 of 5G comprehensive expansion project in Iran by launching Irancell’s 400th 5G site in Kermanshah; Expansion of Irancell North-East Switch Center in Mashhad; Phase 1 of expansion of fiber optic lines; Access of 353 villages to high speed internet within USO plan; The new phase of Irancell TD-LTE and mobile network expansion; and Unveiling new version of My Irancell super application, were the projects which inaugurated in this ceremony.
Dr. Eisa Zarepour (Minister of ICT), Mr. Mojtaba Tavangar (member of the Economic Commission and Chairperson of Digital Economy Committee of the Parliament), Dr. Mohammad Amin Aghamiri (Deputy Minister and President of CRA), Dr. Amir Mohammad Lajevardi (Deputy Minister and TIC CEO and Chairman of Board of Directors), Mr. Iraj Rouhi (Advisor of the Minister in ICT expansion in rural areas and implementation of USO), Mr. Ali Asghar Ansari (Deputy of MICT Planning and Strategic Supervision Department and person in charge and Secretary of National Information Network Expansion Strategic Council), Mr. Reza Bagheri Asl (Deputy of MICT Provinces, Parliament and Government Affairs), Dr. Bijan Abbasi Arand (Irancell CEO), Irancell chief officers, general managers, senior managers and a number of managers, and representatives from main news agencies and leading media in ICT field were the main ceremony participants.
The ceremony also had some online participants, including: Mr. Alireza Rafiei (member of the BoD and Senior Manager of Irancell West Region), Mr. Mohammadreza Abbaszadeh (General Manager of Khorasan Razavi Provincial Government Employment and Investment Department), Mr. Ali Delgir (General Manager of Khorasan Razavi ICT Department), Mr. Mohammad Shamsaei (General Manager of CRA North-East Region), Mr. Hamdireza Rezaei Nia (Khorasan Razavi TIC Manager), Dr. Abolfazl Mohammadi (Kermanshah Province ICT General Manager), Mr. Shahriar Behnia (Kermanshah TIC Manager), Dr. Mojtaba Saremi (Kermanshah Province ICT General Manager), and Mr. Ali Bahramizadeh (Irancell North-East Region Senior Manager).
In this ceremony, Irancell CEO, Dr. Bijan Abbasi Arand, indicated that the value of Irancell projects investment for this ceremony was 2600 billion Rials.
From the beginning of its establishment, Irancell has invested around 10 billion dollars on expansion of national information network and the respective infrastructures, he added. The outcome of Irancell establishment is a sustainable operator network with 62 million active subscribers and 43 million mobile internet subscribers. Irancell has provided 2G and 3G networks for more than 91 percent of Iran population. Taking into account that Irancell has more than 16 thousand 4G sites with the up to date technology, it can be said that 82 percent of the population in the cities, villages and main roads as well as a significant part of secondary roads are under Irancell 4G network coverage.
There are more than 160 cities nationwide with TDLTE technology providing coverage for around 760 thousand Irancell subscribers. Today, we are going to inaugurate a part of the projects related to expansion of 3G and 4G in the cities and villages. Irancell CEO said, while adding that ‘We are planning to provide 5G coverage in all provincial capitals and large shopping centers based on the requests submitted. Subsequently, we have implemented this project in all provincial capitals except some provinces where the infrastructure is going to be provided soon. At the moment, we have 116 active 5G sites in Tehran, looking forward to increase them in the next phases.’
‘The project of Irancell North-East switch and data center expansion in Mashhad is going to be inaugurated with the capacity of 80 racks and the capacity of Irancell switch and data centers totally exceeds 3 thousand racks which constitutes a part of national information network infrastructure. Soon, in the expansion plan of switch and data new centers, these centers will be inaugurated in Babol, Hamedan and Bandar Abbas as well.’
‘The capacity of Irancell network core is 4000 Gb. The capacity of Irancell network IXP is 2800 Gb for local traffic and 3000 Gb for international traffic.’
‘In recent months, we had witnessed a significant growth in local traffic use; however, we have been successful to cope with the demand. We have not yet come to the saturation stage in switch and data centers since the expansion in this respect had already been predicted. For the next year, we are planning on increasing the network core capacity and local and international traffic transmission.’
‘Irancell has so far established 2 thousand kilometers fiber in 36 cities and during the last year, in line with expediting FTTH project, it has totally developed 200 km fiber in Babol, Amol, Islamshahr, Arak, Kamalshahr and Golestan in Tehran Province.’
‘We have also considered expansion phases to help speed up the FTTH project.’
‘One of the other areas focused by Irancell is rural communications expansion, which is seriously in progress in cooperation with MICT. At the moment, 14 million persons living in villages are under network coverage. I am hopeful that Irancell meets its target to provide coverage for all villages with more than 20 households by 22 Sep. 2023.’
Minister of Information and Communications Technology, was the other speaker in this ceremony.
He indicated that in his meeting with a number of manufacturers and knowledge-based companies, the Supreme Leader reiterated that the focal point of economic growth is based on production and the problems of people with regard to their basic necessities can be resolved by production. In this line, the 8 percent growth is predicted in the 7th Development Plan.
Honorably, 5G is rapidly developing in the country and we are hopeful that this technology be available for all Iranian by the end of 13th government. I hope that Irancell action for 5G comprehensive expansion brings blessing for all, he added.
‘Irancell entrance to fixed communications expansion area is highly appreciated and this part of work is inaugurated as the first step. We hope that Irancell can start providing FTTH services for the end users.’
‘In FTTH project, the coverage has already been provided for 2.5 million persons which is going to reach 3 million by the end of this year. Although at the beginning the project started slowly, the project implementation accelerated in 1401 upon Irancell arrival, playing a key role in expansion of fiber optic access lines. We predict that it will be followed up with a higher speed in 1402.’
‘Providing the fiber optic access services broadens Irancell services portfolio, which is also effective for the people. Irancell is responsible for providing coverage for 5 million persons and we expect that the main part of this target is met by the end of the next year.’
‘By the end of Shahrivar 1402 (22 Sep. 2023), all villages having more than 20 households will be connected to the national information network and we hope that there will be no indiscrimination in the internet speed access.’
‘Welcoming Irancell entrance to local software expansion area, we are ready to provide governmental services within the framework of single window services for the popular local software and facilitate the people access. We look forward to see such services available in My Irancell Super-App soon.’
‘If the required infrastructure to use the smart tools had been provided, we would have not faced problems in energy consumption today; and, we could have managed it more properly.’
‘We ask Irancell as the first 5G provider in Iran which has played an active role in expansion of IoT as well as other operators to provide people with the respective services and solutions.’
‘The operators play an important role in expansion of the infrastructures nationwide and the people deserve to benefit from the state-of-the-art technologies. I am thankful to Irancell endeavor to address the people daily needs and to develop the communications.’
In this event, Head of Parliament’s Digital Economy Committee, said that from among the projects inaugurated, the project related to public right to access internet has always been emphasized by the government and the Parliament; accordingly, we are continuously following it up from the MICT.
‘As the Minister of ICT had promised the Parliament, we are asking Irancell to implement this project more seriously by taking into account its responsibility to develop the fiber optic.’
‘The future of governance is governing in the cyberspace and the focal point of this governance is digital economy. We hope that Irancell with the continuous effort could obtain more achievement in this respect.’
‘We appreciate Dr. Abbasi Arand for his endeavor during the recent years in Irancell to pave the ground for providing the required infrastructure for digital economy.’
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