
Telecommunication in Iran
The development of telecommunications in Iran is roughly equivalent to the United States. Under the country code +98, there were a total of 165.20 million connections in 2021. Among them were 135.89 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.5 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 mobile phones per person.With about 197,804 webhosts, Iran is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: Iran
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 11.66 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Iran ranks 144th in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 1.9 Mbit/second was significantly lower (173rd place).In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Iran comes 55th with a download speed of 39.32 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 11 Mbit was only enough for 65th place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in December 2022 from 178 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Iran from 1990 - 2021
Broadband internet in Iran 2000 - 2021

Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
Distribution in 2021 | Iran Total | Iran percent | USA Total | USA percent |
---|---|---|---|---|
Broadband users | 10.67 m | 12.14 % | 127.03 m | 38.27 % |
Landlines | 29.31 m | 33.33 % | 97.11 m | 29.26 % |
Mobile cellulars | 135.89 m | 154.55 % | 361.62 m | 108.96 % |