Babak Tarakome, board director of TCI, said the investment is being made in two phases, local technology website CITNA reported.
He added that 60% of the money will be invested before the end of the current fiscal in March 2018. The remaining will be allocated to projects in the next fiscal, according to Financial Tribune.
“The investment will underpin expansion of Iran’s Optical Transport Network and the Internet Protocol infrastructure.”
Optical Transport Network is a set of optical network elements connected by optical fiber links, able to provide the functionality of transport, multiplexing, switching, management, supervision, and survivability of optical channels carrying client signals.
“A European company will provide part of the investment,” Tarakome said without elaboration.
Foreign Investment
Earlier in May, TCI reached deals with three foreign firms — Huawei and Fiber Home from China and Finland’s Nokia — to expand the fiber optic network and launch Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services in Iran.
Fiber to the Home is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point directly to individual buildings such as residences, apartment buildings and businesses to provide high-speed Internet access.
FTTH dramatically increases the connection speeds available to users compared with technologies now used in most places.
Moreover, South Africa’s MTN has announced it will invest $300 million in the local fixed broadband provider Iranian Net Communication and Electronic Services and lend the company $450 million to help establish and expand its FTTH network.