Irancell: Iran now has its own private mobile network

Irancell: Iran now has its own private mobile network

The communication and IT ministry of Iran has said that the country now has its own private mobile network. Irancell has now launched its own new mobile phone network with SIM cards.

Ministry official Masoud Fateh said in a statement: “Distribution of 300,000 SIM cards by Irancell, the first private operator, has started in the cities of Tehran, Mashhad (northeast) and Tabriz (northwest) under the first phase.”

Irancell is a joint venture with South African Mobile Telephones Network (MTN) and they are now providing a second mobile network in the country at a lower price of 1,500,000 rials per SIM card.

Interestingly, the state owned telecom venture charges almost double of these rates for mobile connections.

Fateh added: “Irancell will distribute 2.3 million of these post-paid SIM cards by March 2007 and it will also offer pre-paid SIM cards in the near future.”