Irancell CEO: Irancell Involvement a Milestone in Optical Fiber Project

The press conference for the 17th anniversary of Irancell’s GSM launch was held on Saturday morning 21 October 2023 at Irancell headquarters with the attendance of Irancell CEO Bijan Abbasi Arand and a number of chief officers, general managers and senior managers of Irancell, hosting a group of journalists.‌‌‌ 

Irancell CEO in his speech presented the achievements of the Company in various fields.‌

In the beginning part, pointing out the total investment of Irancell since its incorporation which has been roughly 10 billion dollars, he said that‌ “at present we have 64.4 million subscribers out of which 45.5 million enjoy mobile Internet. Irancell owns 43.3% of the market share and has managed to increase the number of its postpaid mobile subscribers to 7.8 million people which has witnessed a 25% growth compared to the same period in the last year.”

Mr. Abbasi also provided the press with some statistics of Irancell’s network consumption during the past year. According to him, the daily data consumption record in Irancell network has been around 22 petabyte in September 2023 which is considered a great record in the scale of the Middle East operators.  Though, the real-time reports show that this digit stood at 23 petabyte the previous day, 20 October 2023.‌‌

Presenting the initial statistics, Abbasi Arand further in his speech explained the major projects implemented by Irancell in the past year. He said that,‌‌‌  We managed to obtain the Unified Network Service Provider (UNSP) license from the Ministry of ICT as planned for this year, and now accordingly we have put on our agenda the development of both the mobile and fixed services.‌‌‌ Irancell involvement in the optical fiber project is one of our strategic plans which would take Irancell beyond being a mere mobile operator and would help it serve as a fixed network operator. Embarking on fixed services is considered a milestone not only in Irancell’s history but also in the ICT industry of Iran, which helps the company pursue its aims in development of infrastructure and technology, boosting the quality and speed and going into competition for provision of more economical services for the public and businesses.‌‌‌‌‌    

He went on to say: So far we have established 2200 km of optical fiber infrastructure in the subway layer and our plan is to provide coverage for 1 million people across the country by the end of this year.‌‌ 

The ceremony was followed by the live test of Irancell’s optical fiber speed in front of journalists which stood at 947.62 Mbps.  

Further, noting the main role of Irancell and its pioneering in embarking on and developing the fifth generation of mobile phone technology in the country, Irancell CEO said that,‌  During the past couple of years, following its inclusive 5G development project across the country, Irancell has activated a plethora of 5G sites in most of the provinces out of which 187 sites are in Tehran and today, concurrent with the 17th anniversary, the number of Irancell 5G sites has reached 650.‌‌   Overall so far, 6.2 million subscribers, whose mobile phones support 5G, are in Irancell network and 550k subscribers are actively using Irancell 5G services.‌‌‌‌

Concerning the measures taken for rural development, Irancell CEO said that, ‌ Development of rural services is an obligation we are to fulfill under our license and so far 5,845 sites have been established in villages with more than 20 households and we’ve invested 170 thousand billion rials on eliminating deprivation in these areas.‌‌‌‌‌ All in all, following these measures now 30,860 villages or in other words 13 million people are enjoying Irancell high speed Internet.‌‌ Irancell will fulfill all its obligations as for the national project of rural development by the end of this year.‌

Mr. Abbasi Arand further in his speech for journalists and the audience explained Irancell’s digital transformation plans, empowerment approach using AI and other issues concerning cybersecurity for protection of users’ data, stating‌‌‌‌  Irancell’s road map and digital transformation maturity document has been provided and is currently being implemented.‌

Irancell CEO in another part of his speech talked about Irancell activities in the area of customer relations.‌ Referring to the fact that more than 50% of customer support is carried out through Irancell digital channels, he said that‌‌ “Our Customer Relations division has had a great performance during the past year and has managed more than 10 million requests. And 51% of these requests have been handled through Irancell digital channels. Also surveys revealed that our customers have expressed up to 91% satisfaction toward Irancell customer relations services.‌‌‌‌

In a part of his speech concerning Irancell achievements in enterprise businesses, Abbasi Arand pointed out the new products of this division and their other significant products for digitalization of businesses, saying that‌‌‌ In this regard, we have activated an exclusive 5G network for organizations and industries so that they, particularly industries, can move toward digitalization of their processes by concentrating on AI.‌‌   Likewise, as for connected cars project, we have made significant contracts and embarked on cooperation with car manufacturers.‌‌

The ceremony continued by presenting the achievements of Irancell in the areas of smart human resources, research and development through Irancell Labs, localization of equipment through the various measures taken in this regard, investment in startups via Vista Holding activities as Irancell’s investing arm, content provision and creating a mediating link between content distributor and content providers through activities performed by Noafarin Fund and Vista Media companies adopting a new approach toward content provision.‌‌‌‌‌‌‌

In the last part of his speech, Irancell CEO Abbasi Arand, referring to the importance of sustainability and social responsibility aspects in the organization’s strategy layer and current operations, provided some clear examples of such activities, stating:‌‌ “Irancell endeavors to identify and observe the ESG related standards for internalization of environmental, social and corporate governance solutions.‌ Irancell’s sustainability report is regularly provided with the aim to inform the public of Irancell’s performance in implementation and observation of the said standards and this year this report is published and made available for the public for the third consecutive year.‌‌‌ All those issues which relate to sustainability and social responsibility are of paramount importance for us.  Irancell’s approach toward sustainability in business is made up on the elements of sustainable environment, sustainable society, sustainable economy and corporate governance.‌‌” Supplying the energy required for sites using renewable sources, establishing and renovating schools in disadvantaged regions and equipping these schools with digital educational facilities, launching communication campaigns about protection of Persian cheetahs and squirrels and oak forests in Zagros region, holding training courses in underprivileged regions and equipping boarding schools with small solar farms and allocating some revenue to those schools are some examples of the measures taken by Irancell with regard to identification and reduction of carbon foot print.‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌     

Irancell CEO concluded the ceremony by presenting an annual performance report and explaining the future plans which was then followed by a Q&A session with the journalists during which Mr. Abbasi Arand and Irancell Corporate Affairs General Manager Mr. Saeid Askari responded the journalists’ questions.‌‌‌‌