According to the Ministry’s Information and Public Relations Department, Dr. Mahmoud Vaezi, in his first news conference of the new Iranian year, informed the reporters of the upcoming 4 trillion (Rial) state investment in ICT sector and said: “The present demands and expectations of our good people exceed beyond the facilities and infrastructure of our ministry, therefore, further development of various sectors is on our agenda.”
Stating that the private sector should invest 3 to 4 times more than what the government does, he said: “Therefore if the government is going to invest 4 Trillion, the private sector should invest 10 trillion.”
He underlined the balanced development of ICT in deprived and underprivileged regions as another top priority of the ministry in the new year, adding that, “last year, 8000 villages and rural areas joined the network, and this year, 3 times more, meaning 25.000 villages will join the internet network.”
Moreover, regarding the planned increase in the country’s bandwidth, emphasizing that this figure will double by the end of the year, he included that: “It is our intention that %80 of the bandwidth should be used inside the country, and the other %20 abroad.”
Vaezi also pointed out the programs of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies in the “Government of Wisdom and hope”, and stated that: “This year, 8 authorizations will be awarded to various operators in communication networks sector, directly resulting in job creation.”
He further observed that: “Iranian users should use native applications; consequently, 1.2 trillion Rials will be offered to university students and graduates, and active private sector individuals, in form of low-interest loans.”
Reporting on the creation of 30.000 new job opportunities in the communication and information technology sector during the past year, he further added: “We are projecting a new level of job creation in the new year amounting to 100.000 new job opportunities in these sectors.”
Dr. Vaezi, commenting on the ministry’s intention for increasing the internet’s speed and quality in Iran, included that, “last year we had about 3.2 million high speed internet users, but today not only our users have exceeded the 8 million figure, the mobile internet users have also reached 8 million.”
Stressing that the great achievement in Lausanne negotiations would not have happened if it were not for the extensive support and guidance of our Esteemed Supreme Leader, he concluded: “This agreement counts as a great victory for both the government and people of the I.R. of Iran, a success achieved only through the generousness and the guidance of his excellency, the Supreme Leader.”