TEHRAN – A total of 4,013 villages with a population of over 20 households across the country are now connected to the internet, IRNA reported.

The universal service obligation (USO) in rural areas aims to provide high-speed internet in villages across the country by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

In the Iranian calendar year 1392 (March 2013-March 2014), none of the country's villages had access to the internet.

Based on the survey that the Ministry conducted, there were about eight thousand villages in the country that either should be connected to the internet or their infrastructure should be upgraded.

The connection to the internet for the remaining villages was accompanied by difficulties. These villages were often located in hard-to-reach areas, and it was difficult, and in some cases impossible, to install equipment there.

Issa Zarepour, the Minister of Information and Communications Technology, said in April that more than 91 percent of villages with a population of over 20 households across the country have now access to the internet via the national information network.

The villages with above 20 households having access to the internet have increased from 80 percent to 91 percent since August 2021, said the minister.

Zarepour said many of the villages that were connected to high-speed internet in Iran over the past two years were located in hard-to-reach areas, making it more difficult and more expensive for the government to supply the infrastructure needed for the network.

Many efforts have been made over the past couple of years by the government to support villagers and slow down the trend of migration from rural areas to cities.

The internet penetration rate in Iran has exceeded 123 percent, according to the latest statistics of the Communications Regulatory Authority, published in January.

The data showed that the mobile internet penetration rate in the country has reached 109.27 percent, up by over 26 percent compared to figures reported in 2019.

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.

The opposite is true in most countries, where fixed internet is growing faster.

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.

MG