Opportunities in Iran to open up quick, anticipates panel

Opportunities in Iran to open up quick, anticipates panel

Opportunities for carriers in the Iranian telecoms market are expected to open up quickly, anticipated a panel at Capacity Middle East 2016 today.

Panellists were extremely positive about both the international transit opportunity presented by Iran, as well as the high growth of its domestic telecoms market.

Iran began publicly raising the profile of its telecoms market to the international carrier community late last year, after international sanctions were lifted on the country.

Interest in the market has since grown enormously, with Telecom Italia Sparkle earlier this year becoming one of the first carriers to publicly partner with Infrastructure Company of Iran (TIC).

“We are very happy to be a part of Iran’s growth, and we are positive about what we are seeing,” said Alessandro Talotta, chairman and CEO at TI Sparkle.  

“TIC really want to open up the market and bring value. I believe now is the time and that the international community understands it,” added Amr Eid, CCO at Gulf Bridge International (GBI).  

Vahid Salman, director general of economic analysis at TIC, said the country had maintained strong relationships with carriers even during years of isolation: “The sanctions were never on telecoms, but on money transfer, so we had a good relationship with the carriers already, and in the last two years we have improved the infrastructure of the country,” he said. “Iran has potential to be a hub for the region.”

Salman showcased to delegates the country’s transit opportunities, highlighting its 22 cross border gateways. He also announced onstage that Iran is establishing a landing station for subsea cables in Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone. It is hoped the landing station will help attract additional subsea cable capacity to the country, while offering an alternative to existing landing points in the Arabian Gulf.

During the panel it was also revealed that TIC has 1.2Tbps capacity presently available on its backbone, which it hopes to grow to 6Tbps over the coming years. Salman did not believe there was presently a business case for introducing an alternative backbone provider to TIC in the Iranian market.

Before the panel session began, Capacity also officially announced details of its Iran Connect, due to be held in Tehran on September 6 & 7.  For information on the event, click here.

Capacity Middle East 2016  is taking place in Dubai this week. To view our full coverage of the event, click here

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