TEHRAN – The Information Technology Organization of Iran has conducted a survey which shows that Iranian families spend 222.68 trillion rials (about $5.3 billion) annually for information and communication technology (ICT) hardware and services, Mehr reported on Saturday.

Of the figure, urban families spend 179.4 trillion rials (about $4.2 billion) and rural families spend 43.2 trillion rials (about $1.1 billion), according to the report.

The services include landline and mobile phones as well as internet costs in addition to ICT hardware like laptops, cellphones, tablets, and personal computers.

The report added that urban families spend 118.043 trillion rials (about $2.8 billion) on ICT services and 61.391 trillion rials (about $1.4 billion) on ICT equipment.

Meanwhile, rural families spend 31.801 trillion rials (about $740 million) on ICT services and 11.448 trillion dollars (about $260 million) on ICT equipment.

The statistics covered the Iranian calendar year 1396 (March 2017-March 2018).

SB/MG