While protests over the quality and limitations of internet communications in Iran continue, the Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Radio Communications announced a 30% increase in the tariffs of communication operators in Iran.
News agencies in Iran reported that the CEOs of communication operators have committed to improving the quality of their services in response to this price increase permit.
Among the accepted conditions for operators, it has been announced that the amount of 5G coverage will increase by 10%, the coverage of 4G in the country will reach 96%, and the average internet speed will increase by 30% in the next six months.
Some experts believe that considering the overall policy of the Iranian regime about internet and extensive censorship, as well as the operators’ track record, these commitments will ultimately not lead to an improvement in the quality of internet services consumed by the people.
According to activists, the internet provided in Iran is listed as one of the weakest and slowest in the world.
In July 2023, the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association addressed this issue in a report and stated that the quality of the internet in Iran is in a “crisis” situation. According to the association’s report, internet in Iran is disrupted, limited, and slow.
It has been emphasized that “among the top 100 countries in terms of gross national product, Iran ranks second in terms of the most disrupted internet, second after China in terms of limited internet in the world and is among the 5 countries with the slowest internet speed.”
In its report, the Tehran Electronic Commerce Association wrote, “Iran, with two runner-up positions, one honorable diploma, and a negative score of 294, is the champion of low-quality internet in the world.”
This is happening while the regime’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, emphasized in July 2023 in a meeting with judges and employees of the judiciary the request for “restricting and purifying the virtual space.”
In this meeting, Khamenei called for the judiciary to deal with those who publish news and current events in Iran in both the virtual and non-virtual spaces.
Khamenei’s emphasis came at a time when internet restrictions and filtering in Iran are at their highest level.
In late July 2023, a report was published stating that Iran, in 2023, was introduced as the “world record holder in creating internet restrictions” by imposing 14 new restrictions in the first half of the year.
According to areport by the Al-Monitor, based on statistics provided on Surfshark, a VPN provider, the increase in restrictions in Iran coincided with high civil protests and unrest, and many disruptions occurred during the nationwide protests in 2022 and after the killing of Mahsa Amini by the regime’s morality police.
With the intensification of internet censorship in Iran, the market for proxy servers that circumvent government censors has flourished, and according to estimates, the average monthly income in this sector has exceeded 5 trillion rials (approximately $10 million). Reports indicate that the economic attractiveness of this sector has led to the involvement of organizations and institutions affiliated with the Iranian regime and the children of officials indirectly in this market.
The Ministry of Sports and Youth also reported during the nationwide protests in 2022: “70 percent of users use VPNs, and out of this number, for every eight people, one person uses a paid VPN.”
Furthermore, in February, a report was published stating that the internet shutdown and filtering in Iran from October 2022 to the end of January 2023 has caused approximately 100 trillion rials (approximately $200 billion) in monthly losses to the Iranian economy.
Mohammad Hassan Asafari, a member of the parliament, stated in an interview with the state-backed student news agency (ISNA) about the chaotic market of buying and selling VPNs in the country: “The income and financial turnover of filtering profiteers exceed 500 trillion rials ($1 billion) per year, and they don’t pay any taxes.”
One of the ways for the regime to collect information and invade individuals’ privacy on the internet is through managed proxy servers.
Source » iranfocus