Ring, ring, ring....anyone there?

In contrary to what may be popular belief, Iranians are very inter-connected to each other.

How? Telecommunication. In other words, Telephones.

The mobile market in Iran is, as expected, the least developed of all the nations in the Middle Eastern region. 66% of the mobile market is nationally operated under the name MTN Irancell. The Telecommunication Company of Iran is another mobile telecommunications operator. TCI is privatized and a 50% plus one share is owned by the state.

In order for mobile licenses to be given, the consortium must go through a difficult road. A third license tender, Tamin Telecom, was created in 2009 after a year of trying. The license was confirmed in 2010 and the telecommunications operator was able to begin running.

Despite the difficulties the companies must go through to get a license, it is a very enticing market. It is attractive because new operators can tap into 3G licenses that other nations such as the US have.

It is difficult for any form of digital media to flourish in Iran because the government regulations are very strict and censorship and internet media banning is very high.

Internet in Iran has grown from having 250,000 users in 2000 (3.8% of the population) to 33,200,000 users in 2010 (43.2% of the population). Although these numbers seem high, there is still about 57% of the population disconnected from the virtual online world.

The fact that the majority of people are lacking internet access and cell phone usage is shocking to see because in America it appears that almost everyone has internet and access to a cell phone.