Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran

The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, or Ministry of ICT (Persian: وزارت ارتباطات و فناوری اطلاعات) established in 1908, is responsible for postal services, telephones and information technology in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ministry of Information and Communications Technology

وزارت ارتباطات و فناوری اطلاعات Vezârat-e Ertebâtât va Fannâvari-ye Ettelâ'ât
The logo for the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of Iran. Translated, the top line says "The Islamic Republic of Iran" and the bottom line says "Ministry of ICT".
Flag of the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology
Agency overview
Formed	1908
Jurisdiction	Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Headquarters	Shariati St, District 7, Tehran
Employees	21,244 (2019)^[1]
Minister responsible	Issa Zarepour
Website	www.ict.gov.ir/en/home

Laying out and implementing policies pertaining to postal services is the functions of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is also in charge of issuing import licenses for certain communication devices and parts thereof such as a mobile phone.^[2]

History

The postal service in Iran was handled by a bureau before 1876 and all postal affairs have were done by a bureau. In the same year that it was formed, it showed success in terms of social and monetary value and then in the same year this bureau converted into a full Ministry by the ordered issued by Naser-aldin Shah. The order stated that, Amin-almolk, the Minister of Tasks and Council, be selected for executing the operations (postal services) of Ministry of ICT. After a year working as a Minister of ICT, in 1877, he resigned from the Ministry of Tasks And Council & decided to dedicate more of his time to the Ministry of ICT. During the 19th century, this ministry was administered by Amin-almolk, as the minister and Mirza Rahim as the deputy Minister of ICT.

In 1882, a book was published (lithographed booklet named "the Tariff of the Great Post Office of Iran"). It displayed maps of the telegram offices, post offices, pony post roads and postal network in the 19th-century Iran. That booklet talked about Iran having seven main and five secondary postal lines. After the late 1800s, there were no major revision to Iranian Ministry of the Post, other than the normal organizational and structural changes. After the presidency of Amir Kabir, new renovations appeared in the post of Iran. The posts during the era of Imperialists suspended the extracurricular activities were in suspension and the postal services became fast, according to the Amir Kabir"s discipline.

The Postal services Ministry had an organization restructuring in 1906. Telegraph bureau was put under the administration of the Postal ministry and the Ministry of Post and Telegraph formed. The first telephone patent assigned to Basir-ol-mamalek in 1900 and since then the telephone services started working in Tehran. In 1929, the Ministry of Postal and Telegraph offered a proposal to the parliament for purchasing the stocks of the only Telephone Company. Then the Ministry of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone was formed after the government purchased the stocks of the only Telephone Company.

After the 1929, many development projects were done to the ministry until 2003. There were several subsidiary company and centers which went through many evolutions and were able to spread communication solutions inside Iran. In 2003, a bill of duties and responsibilities in the parliament of Iran decided to rename the ministry from "Ministry of P.T.T" to "Ministry of I.C.T". The Bill also brought a structural reform to the Ministry of I.C.T. It contained new laws and mandates from the Parliament. Thus three private companies: Data Communication Company, acquired by the I.C.T in 2005 and T.I.C and M.C.I were established beside T.C.I. Some of the evolutions are establishing T.C.I and I.R.I Post Company as well as organizing two organizations named I.S.A and C.R.A, and also working to build two new councils named "High Council of IT" and "Space Council".

Programs

As of 2023 May the minister claimed that thirty five million Iranians were in Iranian messengers, The ministry created radar.game and 403.online in 2022 allowing access to games and foreign sites, Iran had two million homes with fiber optical connected internet.^[3]

The ministry has deployed a what it calls "Professional Internet" for some corporations which is internet without National Information Network.^[4] The government also controls internet speed access. ^[5]

It also had supported cloud messaging apps it has interlinked and compared it with Digital Markets Act.^[6][7]

The ministry mainly selects Chinese corporations for imported technology parts for their quality.^[8]

According to Foreign Policy the ministry helps mass surveillance and repression mostly.^[9] Their ministers have been sanctioned by foreign governments on several occasions.^{[10][11][12][13][14]}

It has developed national information network registration site.^{[15][dead link]}

Workgroup

The minister is a part of special taskforce for the digital economy.^[16]

Chart

Departments and agencies work through the ministry these include Iranian Space Research Center , Telecommunication Company of Iran , Telecommunication Infrastructure Company^[17]

dept planning research executive	MICT'

List of ministers

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Party	Government
1		Mohammad Hassan Eslami	22 February 1979	4 November 1979	Independent	Interim Government
2		Mahmoud Ghandi	28 November 1979	28 June 1981	Islamic Republican Party	Interim Government Rajai
3		Morteza Nabavi	17 August 1981	28 October 1985	Islamic Republican Party	Bahonar Interim Government Mousavi I
4		Mohammad Gharazi	28 October 1985	20 August 1997	Independent	Mousavi II Rafsanjani I Rafsanjani II
5		Mohammad Reza Aref	20 August 1997	17 June 2000	Islamic Iran Participation Front	Khatami I
6		Ahmad Motamedi	14 January 2001	24 August 2005	Independent	Khatami I Khatami II
7		Mohammad Soleimani	24 August 2005	3 September 2009	Independent	Ahmadinejad I
8		Reza Taghipour	3 September 2009	2 December 2012	Independent	Ahmadinejad II
9		Mohammad-Hassan Nami	26 February 2013	15 August 2013	Military	Ahmadinejad II
10		Mahmoud Vaezi	15 August 2013	20 August 2017	Moderation and Development Party	Rouhani I
11		Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi	20 August 2017	25 August 2021	Independent	Rouhani II
12		Issa Zarepour	25 August 2021	Incumbent		Raisi

See also

• Communications in Iran
• Internet in Iran
• Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI)
• Iranian Space Agency

References

1. جزییات تعداد کارمندان دولت در سال ۹۷ 8 May 2022 at the Wayback Machine Tasnim News
2. (PDF). irantradelaw.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 March 2013. Retrieved 10 March 2013.
3. رشد ۴۰۰ تا ۹۰۰ درصدی کاربران پیام‌رسان‌ و شبکه‌ اجتماعی بومی/ پرتاب موفق ۲ ماهواره (in Arabic)
4. "تدارک «اینترنت حرفه‌ای» برای کسب‌وکارهای نوپا". 7 May 2023.
5. "Archived copy" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 20 December 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. دسترسی شما به وب سایت مورد نظر مسدود شده است (in Arabic)
7. "اشتراک‌گذاری تجربه اتصال پیام‌رسان‌‌های‌ ایرانی با اتحادیه جهانی ارتباطات- اخبار فناوری اطلاعات | اینترنت | موبایل - اخبار اقتصادی تسنیم | Tasnim". خبرگزاری تسنیم | Tasnim (in Persian). Retrieved 15 May 2023.
8. "وزیر ارتباطات: استفاده از تجهیزات چینی برای اینترنت نسل ۵ – DW – ۱۴۰۱/۱۲/۷". dw.com (in Persian). from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
9. Kramer, Karen (4 November 2019). "Iran's Information Minister Is Not the Solution. He's Part of the Problem". Foreign Policy. from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
10. "Spokesman Condemns US Sanction on ICT Minister". en.mfa.ir. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
11. "U.S. imposes sanctions on Iran's information minister". Reuters. 22 November 2019. from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
12. "US Imposes Sanctions on Iran's ICT Minister - Politics news - Tasnim News Agency". Tasnim News Agency. from the original on 6 January 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
13. "Iran: EU sanctions perpetrators of serious human rights violations - Consilium". from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
14. "US Sanctions Iranian Officials Over Crackdown on Protesters". VOA. 6 October 2022. from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
15. "دسترسی پهن باند ثابت".
16. "1649.ir - DNS4.IR". from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
17. "Archived copy". www.irna.ir. from the original on 15 May 2023. Retrieved 15 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links