Several months ago, the officials of Iran’s Technology Ministry announced that Iran will stop buying Internet bandwidth from Emirates. UAE used to be the main supplier of Internet bandwidth to Islamic Republic during the recent years. Ahmad Poorangnia, a high-ranking official of Telecommunication Infrastructure Company, said on Wednesday that Iran is going to sign a new contract with Emirates regarding trading Internet bandwidth.
“Iran in cooperation with Emirates is going to install a new cable in Persian Gulf for buying Internet bandwidth from UAE. Telecommunication Infrastructure Company will run this project jointly with Etisalat Corporation of Emirates. By completing this project, Iran will be able to connect to World Wide Web through Qatar-Emirates-Saudi Arabia network.” Ahmad Poorangnia said during an interview with Pars Herald.
“Currently, we are unable to cancel this project. Emirates had provided the necessary bandwidth to Iran in last years, and this state has become an strategic partner of Telecommunication Infrastructure Company. Also Etisalat has promised to supply high quality Internet bandwidth to Iranians at cheaper rates.” Ahmad Poorangnia declared.
Internet users in Iran are constantly suffering from low quality Internet connection. Iranian government had also limited access to high speed Internet services for its locals. Accordingly, religious leaders in country believe that high-speed Internet services are useless for Iran-based clients.
Iran has more than 45 million Internet users. The number of Internet clients has been increased by 100% over the past eight years.