Iran Unveils Four Mega Projects to Boost Digital Economy

A data centre in Tehran, the infrastructural project of the National Information Network in the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Tehran, Khorasan Razavi and Fars, a plan to support digital businesses damaged by the coronavirus, and “Every Iranian, an Internet TV” were the four projects launched by President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday.

At the unveiling ceremony, Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said the new projects will boost digital economy, emphasing that the digital economy can replace the oil-dependent economy and can be realised with the leap of Iran‘s smart economic economy.

He said in a country with a creative young workforce the core of the digital economy has grown. He added that Iran is under international pressure, and there is no choice but to be productive, and one of the most important tools for productivity is information technology.

Therefore, the minister said, the digital economy can be a good replacement for oil-dependent economy.

Azari Jahromi said currently digital economy accounts for 6.5 percent of the country’s GDP.

“On average, the global share of the digital economy is 15.5 percent of the total economy, and this shows that Iran has a huge growth potential in the field of digital economics. This is an area that needs to be attended. The digital services are among the most important areas for growth while a lot of jobs are created in this sector.”

Talking about the new projects, Jahromi underlined the data centre of the National Information Network will be launched with the creation of 407 new capacity racks and a 25% increase in the storage of the national network data.

Also, in order to develop the cloud infrastructure of the National Information Network, the private cloud infrastructure project of the National Information Network will be inaugurated, which is one of the most important pillars of the country’s information infrastructure, he went on to say.

Jahromi said the next project is “Every Iranian, an Internet TV” in which the private sector provides free VOD services.

He further pointed out that 10 other information technology projects are in the making and will be unveiled gradually on different occasions.