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Cyber Persia

The most misrepresented and misunderstood country of the world.

by Reza Hashemi, Iran

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3G mobile services coming to Iran

Feb 6, 2009 08:04

By the end of 2009, a 3G mobile service provider should have made an appearance in the Iran market. Emirates Telecommunications Corp. (Etisalat) has apparently won a tender for Iran's mobile operator license. Etisalat will be Iran's third mobile license holder.

Iran has two main networks: The first is the state-controlled Telecommunication Company of Iran (IR-TCI), while the second is Irancell Telecommunications Services Company (49 percent owned by South African MTN).

UAE-based telecommunications services provider (Etisalat) is going to be the third operator in Iran in consortium with Taameen Telecom, a company owned by the Iranian Social Security Organization (SSO). Etisalat is already the largest voice carrier in the Middle East and operates in 17 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

According to Etisalat Press news, "the new license includes 2G and 3G with a two-year exclusivity for offering the latter".

The good news is Etisalat brings more competition to a partly monopolized system. It will provide a couple of attractive services for mobile users in Iran, including 3G services.

Iran is a very attractive market for mobile operators. If you ask why, I would say that Iran has a population of 70 million, with about 70 percent below age 30, and mobile penetration in Iran at about 60 percent. Compare this with UAE, a small Arab nation on the other side of Persian gulf with a 4.5 million population and a 150 percent mobile penetration rate.

It seems the BlackBerry and iPhone 3G have finally found their way to Iran. Let's see what happens in the coming years.

More to come
Reza

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About Reza Hashemi

Reza Hashemi is a Web entrepreneur.He has an engineering degree in computer hardware and a Master in computer systems and networks architecture. He has experienced a condensed history of computers, operating systems and dot com generations. In his younger days, he mastered the art of playing computer games and programming for Commodore 64 then IBM 370 mainframes with card readers in university and hooked up to the Internet via a 19.6Kbps shared connection in 1993. He is also a university instructor, IT consultant and founder/CEO/board member of a couple of e-businesses since Y2K.