Mobile internet tariffs in Iran have increased by up to 40% since the beginning of November. This decision was made while Hamid Fattahi, the Deputy Minister of Communications and Head of the Regulator, had previously stated that a final conclusion regarding tariff changes had not yet been reached.
Challenges of Service Quality and Rising Costs
This tariff increase comes less than eight months after the final phase of a 38% increase in mobile internet tariffs. Users are now facing higher costs for internet, while it remains unclear what improvements in service quality this price increase will bring.
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Internet, as one of the main infrastructures of daily life and economic activities, has now become a controversial topic. Operators point to rising foreign exchange and equipment costs, stating that these factors hinder sufficient investment in the network. However, experts warn that the continuation of this situation could severely negatively impact network development and service quality.
A Decade of Dispute Over Tariffs
The demand from communication operators for tariff increases has been an issue raised over the past decade. These companies believe that tariffs have decreased in previous years due to not aligning with inflation rates and rising costs, leading to their inability to invest.
In contrast, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, the former Minister of Communications, has rejected this claim and emphasized that this issue relates to controlling competition among operators. He states that the reduction of tariffs due to regulatory constraints has led to the current situation.
Filtering and access restrictions to the internet are also cited as another factor in the decline of operators' revenues. Azari Jahromi believes that these restrictions negatively impact operators' income, and ultimately, the increase in tariffs is seen as a way to compensate for this revenue drop.
However, users are facing rising costs while the quality of their internet services remains low. In this situation, the main question is why users should pay for the development and investment costs of operators while receiving limited and low-quality internet?
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