Iran reveals national information network

Iran has been quietly working on its own national intranet since 2005, and the first stage of this project is now complete. The ceremony was attended by Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi, the secretary of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, and a number of other high-ranking officials. The national network will offer a new internet system with speed up to 60 times faster than the best speeds currently available in the country. It will also be more secure if compared to other networks. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed efforts made by relevant officials in completing the internet system, saying that the information network "can be regarded as one of the key components of the country's independence." "If people feel they have easy access to a national, reliable, stable, and safe (information) network, they will play a more effective role in the process of the country's development," he said. To make this happen, since the last 11 years, Iran has been investing a lot in technology infrastructure that consist of fiber optic cables an new data centers. This enables Iran to host more websites and services inside the country. Currently, Iran has an average internet download speed of 2Mbps. This is about one-tenth of the global average, putting itself behind Lebanon, Belize and Uzbekistan.