Iran’s Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) says penetration rate for mobile services in the country increased in the first three months of the current calendar year to stand at 144.14 percent.
Figures by the CRA published in the ISNA news agency on Monday showed that the number of active SIM cards in Iran had reached 121,092,232 by June 20.
That was a 2.07 percent increase compared to the quarter to late March 2020 and a substantial surge against figures reported early last year.
Other reports have suggested that the total number of SIM cards assigned in Iran is reaching 200 million with a majority of them of the prepaid type and issued by the country’s second largest mobile operator MTN Irancell.
Iran, a country of nearly 85 million, has a saturated mobile market where many people, including those living in rural and underdeveloped regions, currently covered by the third and fourth generation of mobile services.
CRA figures showed MTN’s market share had decreased to nearly 43 percent while largest mobile operator MCI had increased its share to nearly 54 percent. Two small regional operators, namely Rightel and TKC, were confined to fewer than 4 percent of the market share, showed charts provided by the regulator.
Unlike MTN Irancell which boasts of its huge prepaid customer base, the MCI largely relies on post-paid SIM cards for its operations in the country. The state operator has been behind a major government scheme to provide online education services for pupils during school closures related to the spread of the coronavirus in Iran. That could partly justify the increase in MCI’s market share between March and June.
The CRA also said that coverage of mobile services on roads across Iran had increased by 8.01 percent on a quarterly basis to reach 94.42 percent in late June.