Government-Approved Hike In Cost Of Internet Angers Iranians
Maryam Sinaiee
Iran International
Iranians, predominantly dependent on mobile data, are outraged by the government's recent approval of price hikes, with many alleging corruption.
Iran International
Iranians, predominantly dependent on mobile data, are outraged by the government's recent approval of price hikes, with many alleging corruption.
“Where there is monopoly, collusion takes shape between [operators] and the government, and they scam the people in any way that they wish, same as in the case of car manufacturers, internet taxis, pharmaceutical import companies, and many other businesses that get special authorizations from the government,” a reader of Khabar Online wrote in response to the Tehran-based news website’s enquiry from readers.
“Salaries increase by 18 percent, which will be implemented next year, but prices increase by 34 percent and more. I will just remain silent and leave [the response] this to God,” another reader answered.
Around 90 percent of Iranians use mobile internet rather than broadband. According to government figures, there are 10.6 million broadband and 84.1 million mobile internet subscribers.
Operators had petitioned the government to increase their broadband and mobile tariffs by 100 percent, the government claimed, but have only been allowed an increase of 34 percent.
Media, however, have reported that operators have increased the prices much more. According to Fararu news website, the cost of data packages sold by Hamrah Avval and Irancell, two of the country’s top mobile operators, has gone up by up to 156 percent. A 50 GB package sold by Hamrah Avval for 1,190,000 rials ($2.38) previously, Fararu said, has gone up to 3m rials ($6).
Most criticisms are directed at President Ebrahim Raisi who during his inauguration in 2021 declared that easy access to the Internet is a right for all and promised free internet for low-income families.
The ministry announced this week that the government will give the heads of households in the three lowest income groups ten gigabytes of free mobile internet for accessing domestic websites (five gigabytes for international traffic) every four months for which they need to register with the government.
The free internet can only be used on one phone registered to the head of the household.
Even the ultra-hardliner government supporter Kayhan newspaper has admitted that the quality of internet services available to Iranians has caused public discontent.
Considering the low speed of the internet and operators’ “abnormal request” to the government to increase data package tariffs by 100 percent, Kayhan wrote, the government must resolve the problem of the slow internet speed before allowing the tariffs to rise.
Users are also forced to purchase costly Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and anti-filtering software to access blocked websites and major social media platforms and messaging applications such as Instagram, and WhatsApp, which are extremely popular with Iranians and used by many large and home-based business.
Speaking to Fararu news website Sunday, the former head of Iranian parliament's National Security and Foreign Relations Committee, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, said the government’s decision to increase the cost of internet could potentially entail an increase in the cost of VPNs. He alleged that there are people with influence in the government who benefit from these increases.
Falahatpisheh argued that restricting people’s access to the Internet, which forces them to seek ways to circumvent filtering, benefits those who are granted VPN sales permits by the government.
“Why are some people granted the permit to break the filters if some sites and content on the Internet pose a danger to the country's security and are blocked?” he asked.
Iranian education authorities have hiked the costs of releasing academic degrees more than 30 times under the pretext of preventing brain drain. Iran is demanding exorbitant fees from the graduates of the so-called governmental universities who already went through the corruption-struck national admission exam to get the state-promised free education.
According to Hamoun Sabti, the secretary of the Transparency Watchdog Commission – an NGO affiliated with Iran’s Conservatives, “the average fee for every semester of study for some bachelor's degrees has surged from about $20 to $600.” It means that for a four to five-year program, an Iranian must pay a minimum of $5,000 for official documentation of a degree that offers no employment or income guarantees. The average monthly income for Iranians ranges from $100 to $300.
The rates had not changed significantly for over a decade until last year, when the Ministry of Science officially raised the fees six to 10 times. However, the graduates are asked to pay even more when they apply to receive their degrees. Ranges differ according to subject and level with master’s and PhD graduates paying the most and healthcare majors facing costs in excess of $2,000 per semester. For a PhD in a healthcare major, a five-year program in Iran, the cost for the degree from a state university can go over $20,000.
The decision was made about a year after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei criticized the growing trend of brain drain and emigration of elites, tacitly giving the green light for stringent financial policies aimed at reversing the trend and holding the country's brightest minds hostage.
According to official statistics, more than 3,000 nurses and 10,000 physicians migrate annually, with an average of 16,000 students leaving Iran each year to pursue further education. The Tehran-based Nilgam Center, an agency providing services to Iranians seeking to emigrate, claims that between 2010 and 2020 roughly 500,000 migrants left the country permanently. In April 2020, the Stanford Iran 2040 Project, reported in April 2020 that the population of Iran-born emigrants increased from about half a million before the 1979 revolution to 3.1 million in 2019. The top destinations were the United States, Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom.
Last year, more than 34,000 students and graduates signed a petition, calling on the Transparency Watchdog Commission to intervene. The head of the NGO, former lawmaker Ahmad Tavakkoli, wrote to President Ebrahim Raisi, asking him to annul the decision, but to no avail.
Sabti emphasized that such a decision should have been announced before implementation to prevent dissatisfaction in society. "If it is necessary to increase the fees by 30 to 50 times, the previous executives should be accountable for why it has not happened until now.If the increase is unreasonable, why causing dissatisfaction in society?” he noted.
Critics argue that the new rates should not apply to those who graduated before the fee increase, but authorities insist that the law applies to everyone. Last month, Iran’s Administrative Court of Justice voted in favor of the Science Ministry – the main authority that issues degrees – upholding that “the time of payment, not the time of study" is the base to calculate the fees. The ruling was issued following separate complaints filed by 26 students and graduates against the Ministry. Several university newsletters called the decision “taking university degrees hostage.”
Technically, the Islamic Republic justifies the fee – officially called the Cost of Canceling Free Education Service Commitment -- as compensation for the years a graduate must work in service to the country, twice the education timespan. However, in the absence of official employment opportunities, degree-holders must pay even higher than private university tuition to obtain their degrees. According to a report published earlier in the month by Nature, Iran’s universities are among the least trusted in the world.
Sabti said, “Some argue that the new rates will reduce brain drain and prevent the emigration of elites from the country. This notion is akin to believing that increasing gasoline prices would solve major cities' traffic problems. Unfortunately, we have seen that with the rising cost of gasoline, the traffic problem has not been resolved.”
While the Islamic Republic authorities justify the policy as a measure against brain drain, it is also perceived as part of the cash-strapped government's efforts to pocket more from people's wallets. According to reformist commentator Abbas Abdi, the government compensates for its inefficiency in boosting revenues from oil sales by raising taxes and tariffs imposed on the general population.