Iran Eases Restrictions on High-Speed Mobile Internet

Title: Dawn of High-Speed Mobile Internet in Iran: A Long Overdue Leap Forward

Content:

For numerous cell phone users around the world, access to mobile internet services has become an integral part of daily life. Often, we take these conveniences for granted. However, for the citizens of Iran, gaining access to high-speed mobile internet services was a hurdle that had to be overcome.

After a long and arduous struggle, the Iranian Government finally awarded the first 3G and 4G licenses to mobile operators last week. This historic step has empowered ordinary Iranians to leverage modern communication methods, including swiftly uploading images to Twitter and making video calls on their mobile devices.

The decision to ease restrictions on mobile internet services that had slowed down speeds considerably is a notable victory for Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani. The hard road to this landmark achievement was not without opposition. Renowned conservative figures such as clerics, military leaders, and lawmakers in Iran were against this push, according to a report by the New York Times. This development follows closely on the heels of earlier reforms by the Iranian government that allowed internet providers to boost bandwidth for home connections up to 10 megabits per second, marking significant growth in the country’s telecommunications sector.

Despite these significant advances, some hard-liners in Iran remain skeptical, wary of the potential effects of high-speed mobile internet services in their country. Memories of public protests during the Green Movement, when smartphones were used for social media coverage in the wake of Iran’s 2009 presidential election, are still fresh.

This widespread use of social media had prompted the Iranian government to throttle internet speeds and impose restrictions on popular international websites like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and Tumblr. One such vocal critic is Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, a prominent Iranian cleric. Speaking out vehemently against this move, he decried high-speed mobile internet services as “immoral” and against Islamic law, as reported by the Washington Post.

Makarem-Shirazi’s reservations about such technologies are more about their potential to flood the country with online content that many conservative Iranians deem as morally inappropriate or politically dangerous. Their fears revolve around the idea that 3G technology could possibly facilitate unsupervised communication between men and women.

According to the Tehran Times, Makarem-Shirazi compared Western technology to “muddy and unsanitary water,” that needs to be purified before use. He believes that while technology may fuel progress, when it delves into murky territory, it needs to be filtered for appropriateness.

Despite these challenges, President Rouhani has been resilient in his opposition to restrictions on high-speed internet access and ongoing censorship of certain online content. In a powerful speech broadcasted on Iranian television, Rouhani emphasized the importance of acceptable internet access for Iranian science and the younger generation’s developmental needs, as reported by BBC News.

In his own words, Rouhani stated, “We cannot close the gates of the world to our younger generation,” emphasizing the urgency and inevitability of technological advancement. “If we do not move towards the new generation of mobile today and resist it, we will have to do it tomorrow. If not, the day after tomorrow.”

It’s clear that despite opposition, Iran continues to take steps towards embracing the new digital age and all its offerings. High-speed mobile internet is just the beginning of a new chapter in the country’s technological progress.

_This article was updated in 2025 to reflect modern realities._

[UPDATED_TB_2025]