According to the country’s ICT deputy minister Hamid Fatahi who made the comments earlier this week, the new figures make up 50% of the country’s total internet traffic.
Fatahi claims that the increase in the internet traffic exchange is due to services rendered to users on the National Information Network, largely video and online transport services.
At the times of the news, Fatahi also announced the launch of a project to increase the country’s IP network to a total capacity of 18.5Tbps sometime in the near future, though no specific dates were given.
In related news, the ministry of information and communication technology announced plans to provide more than 1,000Gbps of bandwidth for Iranian messaging applications in December.
“The Iranian messaging apps can benefit from over 1,000 gigabits per second of added bandwidth, which is double the total bandwidth of foreign social networks in the country,” Fatahi announced on his Twitter account. “However, many messaging applications have not used their previous bandwidth capacity completely.”
مشکل پیام رسانهای داخلی مسیر ۴بانده و ۶بانده نیست. با این‌حال برای اثبات این موضوع تا دو هفته آتی، بیش از هزار گیگابیت برثانیه(معادل بیش از دوبرابر همه شبکه‌های اجتماعی خارجی) از ظرفیت شبکه ملی اطلاعات را به پیام رسانهای داخلی اختصاص خواهیم داد.#اقناع_کاربر — Hamid Fatahi (@fatahi_ir) December 14, 2018
The news comes as Telegram, the Iranian instant messaging app, was banned in country back in April 2018 on claims of security concerns – primarily its ability to bypass the Iranian government's digital surveillance and censorship regime. With approximately 40 million subscribers in Iran, the move left a noticeable void in the Iranian messaging space and only five alternative messaging applications have been approved by the National Center for Cyberspace, an organisation established by the Supreme Cyberspace Council.
Soroush, Gap, iGap, BisPhone Plus and Wispi are the only messaging applications supported by the centre and many domestic messaging app companies are looking to government to support them in convincing subscribers to move to other applications.
