Do Not Use Internet! That is Forbidden!

By Kourosh Ziabari

IRAN - It was for the first time that Iranians heard the name of “Regulation of radio and communicative provisions” that presented itself with the approval of a new law that forbids access to any 128 Kbps internet connection for general, personal or household purposes.

In passing the law, only governmental organizations and first-degree citizens would be free to use this type of internet by way of various type connections such as ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) or satellite internet. Non-governmental organizations, companies, personal or family corporations and newspaper offices would be restricted from using this high speed internet.

Officially, it has been less than two years since this type of internet was imported to Iran and PAPs (Private Access Providers) are to offer high speed internet with unbelievable cost. The ADSL connection costs about $800 per month for each user and this amount is truly less than monthly income and salary of a normal citizen.

Also, the internet service providers of Iran are unable to provide users with the exact 56Kbps dial-up connections. In addition to the heavy traffic of regional parts in different cities, the average speed of dial-up and telephony connections via the best types of external 56K modems is between 21.6K and 33.6K.

In other words, the availability of multimedia like online music, films, fast data transmission or high speed downloads is impossible due to the continuous disconnects, old and worn out structure and fiber noises caused by the dual copper cables used in the backbone of these traditional telephone lines. These problems do not allow users to experience a convenient and comfortable connection so you have to deal with it and be deprived from even connections being used even in some neighboring countries such as Afghanistan.

Beside all the problems, you can’t forget the distance dimension. Given that there is no more than one ADSL provider in most Iranian cities and if we remember that the providers are not able to serve the users that are more than 5 kilometers away from a central station , we can assess the situation of high speed internet in Iran as a real disease rather than a bitter reality!

Developed countries have been using ADSL for more than ten years and wireless technology is becoming popular—but in a few countries such as Iran that claims to be the leader of technology in Middle East, ADSL is like a dream for most professional users and commercial organizations. So the practical implementation of plans such as E-government, E-Police, E-university and E-commerce is impossible in Iran.

The law is also adding to our pain and let’s say honestly that the future of information and communication technology in Iran is likely to be more blurred and dark than it seems…


About the Author

Kourosh Ziabari is a young journalist in Iran.

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