The Minister of Communications presented a plan to develop a national information network based on high-speed Internet

Today, December 18, 2014, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology finally held his first press conference after four months. In this meeting, Issa Zarepour, referring to the role of information technology development in the daily lives of the people, expressed the wishes of the Ministry of Communications for the realization of the national information network.

According to Zarepour, information technology today has transformed all aspects of human life and has become a social concept that has penetrated into all aspects of life. He stressed that the role of this technology became more apparent during the corona outbreak, and that specialists were able to make great strides in a short period of time by turning the corona threat into an opportunity. The Minister of Communications stressed that in such circumstances, we must definitely have a clear way to take advantage of the opportunities of this technology.

According to Zomit, Zarepour stressed that the 13th government’s view is that technology is an opportunity and that it should be used to the maximum to improve the government’s efficiency and effectiveness in solving problems and making measures more effective. He added:

Naturally, this technology, like any other technology, has threats. For example, last week the CEO of one of the largest social media platforms was summoned to the US Congress to explain the effects and consequences of his platform on children and adolescents, and he was asked to take action in this area. I want to say that this technology is more opportunistic than its threats, and we must use this opportunity to compensate for historical backwardness in various fields.

The way to achieve the national information network According to the Minister, the realization of this important issue requires the development of the national information network infrastructure, and the Ministry of Communications in the new era has focused on its realization. He says that in fact, the Ministry of Communications intends to implement what has happened in many developed countries of the world, which has made them use more of the civilization-building tools of information technology and at the same time less threats, by realizing the national information network.

Issa Zarepour further referred to the concept of national information network, which, according to him, has two main wings: high-speed network around the country and services. Regarding the development of fixed internet, he said that the fiber-optic project to homes is on the agenda and it is planned to launch 20 million high-speed ports across the country in the remaining period of the government. According to him, this is a very difficult and complex task and requires national determination and the ability of everyone to work; Just like the movement that was formed for gas piping in the country.

The Minister of Communications announced that with the formation of more than 50 sessions to compile a roadmap in this regard, the Fajr decade, the roadmap for the development of high-speed Internet based on fiber optics will be unveiled and development work will begin. He added that in order to remove the obstacles to development, the budget bill envisages laws for the development of high-speed network based on fiber optics, so that all devices in the country are obliged to share their spaces and facilities in order to implement this project. For example, he pointed to the Ministry of Energy, municipalities and all public and governmental sectors, each of which has the capacity to achieve this, and finally the Regulatory Authority for Radio Communications must set a tariff to make this space and facilities available to the private sector.

Minister of Communications: At least 30% of government services must be provided to the public through a single window within a year

Zarehpour added that if this happens, the problem of internet speed will be solved. He stressed that this will remove the burden of the mobile network and speed up mobile internet.

Referring to the second wing of the National Information Network, the Minister of Communications said that after the launch of high-speed internet, the Ministry of Communications should seriously enter to provide quality services and content. Zarehpour defined the services of the National Information Network in three categories:

• E-government services
• Public Service
• Basic application services

Referring to the current inefficiency of e-government services, he said that this issue has been pursued for years, but so far only 40% has been achieved; It is also decentralized. This means that each device has its own organization and different services are provided to the people through several systems, and each service has a separate registration and authentication process. Zarehpour added in this regard:

We want to launch a single service window for each device, which is also mentioned in the proposed government budget bill. This is perhaps the first time that a section for the country’s communications sector has been envisaged in the annual budget bills, and these plans have been proposed by law and we hope they will be approved. We have stated in this paragraph that all devices are required to launch their e-services unit window within a certain period of time and provide at least 30% of their services through it in the first year. In the next step, they must provide these services to the Ministry of Communications to be on the national service window. By the end of next year, God willing, we will have an infrastructure where people can have integrated access to at least 30% of government services once they have authenticated.

Zarehpour stressed that if we want to achieve justice, government, transparency and transparency in the true sense of the word, and eliminate the golden signatures and the field of corruption, all government services must be made available to the people in a transparent manner. He expressed hope that the pilot of this project will be implemented by the end of this year.

Referring to the second area of ​​public services of the National Information Network, Zarepour enumerated the efforts of the private sector in providing the services needed by the people through their strong platforms and in some areas they have surpassed other countries. He referred to the transportation services that an American platform has taken all over the world, and even Europe has become passive in the service of this platform and is thinking of taking action to manage it, while he said that Iran has no problem in this regard and now we see that There are various platforms in the fields of transportation, routing and sales, etc. He added that there are shortcomings in some areas, and with the support of the Ministry of Communications, the necessary infrastructure should be developed and these services should be made available to the people in an integrated manner.

The third area of ​​basic services, according to the Minister of Communications, includes items such as search engines and social networks, which the Ministry of Communications has plans to use the capacity created in this area in the country. Zarehpour added that in this regard, the master plan of the National Information Network approved by the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, for the first time obliges the Ministry of Communications in the field of basic services.

Zarehpour pointed out that the people have now seen the proper and effective performance of domestic platforms in meeting their needs, and stressed that the Ministry of Communications should also facilitate the work of the people by updating itself and in proper management. In this regard, the realization of the National Information Network has found a new mechanism in the Ministry of Communications, and based on this, the Steering Council of the National Information Network has been set up. Zarehpour adds that the council meets every week and, of course, in several other weekly sub-meetings, a total of more than a hundred projects have been defined to fulfill the Ministry of Communications’ tasks in developing the national information network, which are followed up regularly.

The Minister of Communications also referred to the government’s review to form a working group to remove obstacles to the digital economy, saying that this week the review of this issue will be completed. According to the plan, four ministers and two deputy ministers will be appointed to solve the problems in this area so that the share of digital economy, according to the document of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, will reach 10% of the gross national share during the four years of government. He said solving business problems to enter the stock market was one of the obstacles that we saw the first startup company enter the OTC market a few weeks ago, and this is the beginning of a new path that is hoped to improve with the formation of this special working group.

At the end of his speech, Zarepour also mentioned the role of security in the national information network, which is the Achilles heel and its critical point, and if there is a problem, it will be very dangerous despite all the services and high speed. As a result, a new division of labor has been proposed by the Ministry in this regard to define the role of all relevant agencies in the field of information technology security.