Irancell CEO: Irancell 5G Sites Double by End of 2024

In the National Conference on Iranian 5G Telecommunications, Irancell CEO declared that the number of the company’s 5G sites will double by the end of 2024.‌

The National Conference on Iranian 5G Telecommunications was held on Monday 30 October 2023 with the attendance of Minister of ICT Eisa Zarepour, Deputy Minister of ICT & Head of CRA Amir Mohammadzadeh Lajevardi, Irancell CEO Bijan Abbasi Arand, and the Ministry and mobile operators’ senior managers at the premises of ICT Research Center of Iran. ‌‌‌‌‌ 

Referring to the report of 5G mobile phones status quo in Iran, Irancell CEO stated that “the 5G project in Iran was initiated by Irancell as a pilot test in 1395 in a laboratory and finally in 1399, with the cooperation of ICT Research Center, the first commercial 5G site was launched in the country. Recently, concurrent with Irancell’s 17th anniversary, we managed to increase the number of our 5G sites to 650 which is now close to 700 sites nationwide. There are about 6 million subscribers having mobile phones supporting 5G from whom 6000 subscribers have experienced this generation of communications. Although, given the number of subscribers, there is relatively little traffic in 5G network compared with the whole network traffic, it is due to the fact that the 5G service is still locked in large percentage of mobile phones despite the increase in the number of 5G sites.”‌‌‌‌

He further said that: “It was expected that 5G development would lead to digital transformation in the industries and evolve the communication infrastructures in the world, however, the progress rate of the project is still low even in developed countries like China. Irancell began its experience in digital transformation in the industries with Mobarakeh Steel Company in Isfahan from a few years ago and following the establishment of the first 5G site with an industrial usage in this company, it endeavored to drive digital transformation in their current processes using this infrastructure.”

Referring to the operators’ plans concerning 5G development, Abbasi Arand also asserted that: ‌“Development and maintenance of mobile network presently demands strenuous effort considering the fact that on the one hand, all costs are paid in a foreign currency and on the other, the optical fiber infrastructure required for the expansion of the network is still under construction. Despite the primary investment, the return of investment has not happened yet because the tariffs have remained the same and there is a currency rate difference between our revenue and costs. That is why the operators’ investment capability is getting reduced day by day. Even the schedule that operators initially had on their agenda for 5G development later on progressed at a slower pace because we are all dealing with the challenge of managing costs to stabilize the network quality despite the increase in consumed traffic. Yet, due to the fact that the tariffs are still the same, we do not have much capability in developing the new technologies.‌‌‌‌‌‌‌ Nevertheless, we are striving to increase the number of our 5G sites to twice the current number in Irancell network by the end of 2024.‌‌”