TEHRAN – Over 7,200 villages across the country will be connected to the National Information Network on the occasion of the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry announced, Mehr reported on Saturday.

The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is annually celebrated on May 17 to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and ICT can bring to societies and economies, as well as of ways to bridge the digital divide.

The internet coverage will expand internet-based market through providing infrastructure and ICT development.

Up to now, 80 percent of rural area have ICT coverage, the ICT Ministry announced.

The first phase of e-government services project in Iran officially came on stream under the title of ‘Mobile Government’ in mid-May 2018.

The project aims to facilitate some government services, reduce unnecessary expenses and ease traffic jam, which is the main cause of air pollution in big cities.

It is based on the National Information Network, an ongoing project to develop a secure and stable infrastructure network in the country.

According to a report released by the Measuring Information Society of Iran at the Information Technology Organization in January, 64 percent of Iranians above six years are internet users.

A survey was conducted at urban and rural areas during winter season of the Iranian calendar year 1396 (ended March 20, 2018) by the Statistical Center of Iran.

According to the survey, the internet user is defined as someone who has used internet during the past three months and by this definition 46,315,545 people are internet users in Iran.

According to the report, 72.8 percent of Iranian families have access to the internet, which means that 17,936,000 families benefit from internet nationwide.

A total of 17,216,000 families have access to computer, which is 69.7 percent of the population.

SB/MQ/MG