Fiber optic operators say that although the municipalities have not yet been fully justified in cooperating with them, the optical fiber project is on track and moving faster. Also, in this situation where their demand for equipment has increased, it seems that the domestic producers are not able to meet their needs.
According to the Iran digital economy annotation, the government plans to increase the number of optical fiber coverage to 8 million households and businesses throughout the country by the end of the year, that is, within a period of about 70 days. According to the latest announcement report of iranfttx website, the current figure is now about 5 million and 191 thousand households. In this way, about 2,800,000 new households should be covered by the end of the year.
Although adding this number of coverage at such a time does not seem like an easy task, but for several months, the optical fiber project for homes and businesses is being pursued at a faster pace than before. Since Irancell entered the project in the middle of October and the telecommunication company in early November this year, the hopes are to increase the optical fiber coverage more than before. However, the operators have not yet recovered from all the problems of the past. what do they say
Domestic production does not meet the need
From the beginning of the project, the operators complained about the non-cooperation of the municipalities of some cities. In November of last year, the regulatory commission determined the tariff and requirements for drilling and using masts and poles to install optical fiber to partially solve this problem. This spring, the Minister of Interior ordered governors and municipalities to cooperate with operators to develop optical fiber, but it seems that the problem has not been fully resolved yet.
Ahmad Bidabadi, CEO of Sabanet, says in this regard: A municipality may say something that is not acceptable to the minister and the governor. We report these cases and try to resolve the issue. Mr. Wazir tries to convince them that this is an upstream plan and they should cooperate to realize it. Some municipalities prolong the work, for example, they send us to the city council to get permission from them. But some mayors are more decisive and accept to move the work quickly.
According to him, the production capacity of the domestic manufacturers of the equipment will not meet the needs of the operators until the speed of fiberization: the conditions for the manufacturers have never been better than now, they sell at whatever price they want and charge whatever amount they want.
Because of this, a strange job creation has started in production and contracting. On the other hand, domestic production should be strengthened so that they can meet the needs of operators. Their production capacity is less than our needs. Maybe they couldn’t believe that the demand was so high. Even the contractor is not found enough. We had to make a contract with one of the companies to make a trencher for us.
According to his announcement, this operator has created about 300,000 optical fiber covers so far.
Masoud Bemanipour, the CEO of Pioneers of Communications Development, also says about the supply of equipment: Micro ducts are difficult to supply now because the production volume is low compared to our demand. The problems of the municipalities have generally been solved and the implementation problems of the same equipment have come up.
He adds: We will reach our goal. Now the process is in full swing and the speed of all operators has increased.
Municipalities do not understand the value of the project
Saber Feizi, the CEO of Fanap Telecom, also mentioned the issue of municipalities and says: With the correspondences that the ministries have made, the communication situation with the municipalities is much better, but it seems that there is a need to include supervisory organizations. The problem is that they don’t know the value of the project and they have so many everyday issues that they don’t get to these things.
In municipalities that know the importance of the issue, the work goes very easily, for example, we have reached an agreement with the mayor and the governor of Malayer with only two meetings. But in Gilan, the governor invited all the mayors and governors, and despite this, nothing special happened and the work did not progress. Except for Rasht, where coverage has been established, contracts have been signed only in the two small cities of Khomam and Komleh.
Feizi says that the commitment of this operator is to create 610,000 covers by the end of the year, which they will definitely achieve.
The CEO of this operator says about receiving incentives: We receive incentives, but there are difficult procedures. Three or four of our cities have been evaluated by the regulatory agency and we are going to receive them soon. My prediction is that if nothing special happens in the next few years we will reach the schedule.
Telecom has not received payment
The telecommunication company has been involved in the 20 million coverage project for less than 3 months, although the Najma project (jahadi movement for the development of optical fiber of Iran Telecommunication Company) of this company started in June 2022 and before that they were carrying out the fiber laying since 2015.
Mohammad Reza Bidkham, the spokesperson of Iran Telecommunication, says: Iran Telecommunication Company has the largest optical fiber network in the country with 196,000 kilometers of urban, rural and interurban fiber. We also have approximately 280,000 active subscribers.
He says about the number of coverages of this company: Currently, we have covered between 2 and 2.5 million households with optical fiber and we hope to reach at least 3 million coverages by the end of the year.
According to Bidkham, the government has not yet given incentives to telecommunications, and financing is one of the main problems: financing has put us under severe pressure. We hope that higher authorities like the Ministry of Communications will help us. Iran’s telecommunications side has not received any amount from the fiber incentives. Considering that we have signed the UNSP contract, we hope that we will also be paid.
Bidkham also complains about the municipalities: telecommunications often have problems with the municipalities. If the municipalities do not help, the speed of our development will be difficult. Many places cooperated, but the cooperation of some municipalities has been very weak.
He believes that the use of fiber is not attractive to people now, and he says about the reasons: We have the most fiber subscribers, but there are reasons why customers do not come to it because it is not attractive to them. For example, the subscriber costs are high, the subscriber needs a modem and also has to wire the inside of the complex.
It should be helped to reduce these costs to the minimum possible. Of course, we do not charge any fees for the unit out from the subscriber.
An undecided province
Currently, according to the regulatory organization, all operators have committed to cover 1,296 cities with optical fiber. Before telecommunication entered the project, no operator had any commitment in any of the cities of South and North Khorasan provinces, but now telecommunication has committed to cover 21 cities of North Khorasan province with optical fiber.
However, the only province where no operator has accepted the commitment of its cities is South Khorasan province.
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