Iran’s Average Mobile Internet Speed Up 36% YoY

EghtesadOnline: Average mobile Internet speed increased by 36% year-on-year in Iran in 2017 reaching 16.74 Mbps, the Internet testing and analysis company Ookla reported. The world’s average mobile download speed increased 30.1% during the period.

News ID: ۷۸۱۲۶۱

14 January 2018

The significant increase has enabled a rise of 19 positions in Ookla’s global ranking of countries based on mobile Internet speed. According to the Speedtest Global Index report published on Ookla’s website, Iran is ranked 67th among 122 countries.

Ookla says that the data for the index comes from hundreds of millions of tests taken by real people around the world using the firm’s Speedtest service every day.

It adds that the average mobile Internet speed is 16.74 Mbps in Iran, 3.54 Mbps lower than the global average which is 20.28Mbps, according to Financial Tribune.

Norway has the fastest mobile Internet network with the average download speed at 62.66 Mbps.

An earlier report by the International Telecommunication Union published in November indicated that Iran is showing significant improvement in every aspect of the ICT sector. The ITU said Iran is “the most dynamic country” in terms of ICT development in Asia. Ookla’s latest findings attest to the ITU position on Iran’s progress in the key sector.

Over the past decade, there has been acceptable growth in the availability of communications in Iran, especially in the rapidly expanding urban areas, led by growth in mobile communications, and more recently, with the introduction of third and fourth generation of mobile telecommunication technologies (3G and 4G).

According to Telecoms Ministry data, 96% of Iranian cities have access to the 3G mobile Internet while 64% of the cities have 4G coverage. Iran has 1,241 cities and a population of 80 million.

Moreover, the ministry says up until June there were 41.5 million mobile Internet subscribers in Iran or 52% of the total population.

ITU’s latest report on global ICT development which is based on data from the end of 2016 indicates that by then 33.8% of Iranians had a mobile Internet subscription.

Landline Links Limping

However, unlike many developing and developed countries, landline Internet services in Iran are of lower quality compared to the mobile services. The average landline Internet speed in the country is 10.28 Mbps, 6.5 Mbps lower than the average mobile Internet speed in the country.

Landline Internet speed in Iran is one-fourth of the global average and the country ranks a poor 105th from among 133 studied nations.

The landline Internet speed in Iran has seen a slight 1.4% improvement compared to the end of 2016. This is while the global average fixed broadband speed increased 31.6% during the one year period.

About 10.3 million landline Internet subscriptions are registered in Iran which means that 43% of Iranian households are connected to the Internet via such services.

Industry observers are of the opinion that the domination of Telecommunication Company of Iran over the establishment of the landline Internet infrastructure has hindered the sector’s desirable growth.

TCI is a state-owned company with an ironclad grip on the landline telecommunication network. In addition to telephony services it also sells broadband Internet services.

The company has laid fiber optic cables in several areas in Tehran and other major cities replacing copper cables that were the norm in the not too distant past. While public funds have been used for establishing the networks, TCI does not allow private ISPs to sell services through the newly-installed cables.

To promote competitiveness and loosen the TCI grip, the Communications Regulatory Authority has issued permits to another firm, the Iranian Net Communication and Electronic Services company to install fiber optic cables. Furthermore, through a recently announced mandate the CRA has obliged TCI to share its networks with local Internet service providers. The two measures have yet to prove their worth.