TEHRAN –The South Asian Telecommunication Regulators’ Council (SATRC) workshop on recent trends and technologies was held in Tehran from September 30 to October 2.

Hosted by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the event brought together representatives from India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.

The emphasis of the workshop was on recent trends and technologies that support the digital transformation of the economy and society in SATRC member countries.

The main objective was to give an in-depth analysis of various trends in innovation and technologies for fostering the growth of the economy and society including technical details, policy and regulatory aspects, and other aspects.

The workshop served as a platform to share expertise and boost cooperation among regional South Asian countries. It also focused on modern strategies to address challenges facing the information communication technology sector at regional as well as global levels, IRIB quoted Hamid Fattahi, an official with Information and Communication Technology, as saying.

Addressing the attendees, Fattahi said the rapid development of communication infrastructure and technological trends play an important role in empowering communities and accelerating economic growth.

“In a world that is becoming more and more digitalized, it is very essential to find a balance between the three elements of security, privacy, and innovation in information communication and technology.

Also, with the rapid pace of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), the importance of developing safe policies and regulations that will ensure responsible use of these technologies is felt more than ever,” Fattahi added.

The three-day event consisted of several sessions discussing policy and regulatory environments; innovation and investment in telecommunication/ICT; and initiatives to bridge the standards and innovation gap.

The sessions also focused on the new technologies and trends in satellite communications, and regulatory aspects and challenges of these technologies were addressed in detail.

Status of ICT in Iran

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is the highest authority in the field of ICT in the country. All activities related to the information and communication technology industry are directly related to the ministry.

The government pays special attention to plans and policies in this sector in order to maximize the use of ICT to facilitate people's lives.

The successful designing, building, and launching of a satellite show the growth of the national technology and scientific power of a country.

Space technology has been considered a tool to expand prosperity, peace, scientific-cultural development, and economic progress in human societies.

Different nations of the world exploit this technology in some way based on their capacity, capabilities, and efforts.

Currently, 13 universities and a research institute affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology are offering aerospace majors, thus Iran has a high capability in training specialists and experts in the aerospace sector and is a leading country in the region.

Access to telecommunication services in rural areas of the country had improved over the period as the overall number of villages with access to communication services rose to 52,182, around 93 percent of all villages, while 47,837 villages had access to home landline services.

Moreover, the number of Iranian mobile users reached nearly 135.890 million, according to the CRA which put the mobile phone penetration rate in the country at 161.67 percent.

The figures showed, however, that fixed broadband adoption in Iran had stalled at 14 percent with nearly 11.921 million customers having access to the Internet via those services.

This statistic shows that fixed broadband internet has grown by less than 2 percent compared to last year and mobile internet has experienced a growth of 10 percent. However, it can be said that the speed of mobile internet expansion is 5 times the speed of fixed internet.

MT/MG