Iran to Further Facilitate Public Access to Information
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian minister of communication and information technology said his organization is after promoting public access to information, adding that detailed plans are also underway to pave the way for investment for the development of IT infrastructures.
Mahmoud Va'ezi made the remarks on the sidelines of the Connect Asia-Pacific Summit in the Thai capital of Bangkok.
“Among other plans of communication ministry is to make efforts to create a communicational corridor of Asia’s eastern and western networks and north to south, to promote communications in Asia and its development with other regions of the world,” the minister added.
Connect Asia-Pacific Summit, organized by the ministry of information and communication technology (MICT) of Thailand and the International Telecommunication Union as the leading UN agency for ICT, aims to discuss and define the policies that will accelerate growth of ICT-led future.
The summit also offers a platform to introduce national and regional projects and investment opportunities.
According to the latest statistics, over half of Iranians have access to the internet. In 2012, there were 43 million internet users in Iran (out of a population of 76 million), making the country first in the Middle East in terms of number.
It's not more than 20 years that the first mobile phone buzzed in Iran, and now there are over 80 millions of them in the country. Nearly all mobile services in Iran are provided by three telecommunication companies applying different levels of technologies in their services. Penetration is expected to steadily increase to 142 percent in 2017.