The Majlis has introduced legislation which tasks the ministry with increasing bandwidth in the country to 30Tbps by March 2021, according to Mehr News Agency.
The ministry will also be tasked with undertaking structural reform of the state-owned Telecommunications Infrastructure Company of Iran (TIC). TIC is the exclusive provider of bandwidth to local internet companies.
The ministry wants to split TIC into three parts, which will operate independently; The International Data Transit Company, Research and Development Company, and Infrastructure Development Company. All three will be overseen by a new national telecommunication company.
The parliament has also challenged the ministry to attract investment from the private sector and foreign organisations as Iran looks to expand its telecoms infrastructure.
It comes just months after Italian equipment vendor Italtel made a pitch to build a nationwide ultra-fast broadband network in Iran focussed on health and education services. The Telecoms Ministry has been tasked with digitising schools, according to the reports.
It comes just months Sparkle and Interoute representatives agreed that clearer regulatory rules are needed to boost foreign direct investment (FDI) into Iran and grow the telecoms market.
Speaking at Capacity Eurasia, delegates from the two companies said a reduction in sanctions meant there is naturally an increasing demand for wholesale providers to partner up with local players to not only enter the Iranian market, but to do so smoothly utilising existing infrastructure in the country which has invested heavily in landline models.
Capacity panellist Alessandro Talotta, chairman and CEO of Sparkle, said to delegates: “When we were in Iran two weeks ago, we had the opportunity to speak with private enterprises willing to invest and we are in favour of partnering as it creates better opportunities for consumers and enterprises.”
