Telephones - fixed lines:
total subscriptions: 30,818,011
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - total subscriptions country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 37 (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 10

Telephones - mobile cellular:
total: 74.219 million
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - total country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 91 (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 22

Telephone system:
general assessment: currently being modernized and expanded with the goal of not only improving the efficiency and increasing the volume of the urban service but also bringing telephone service to several thousand villages not presently connected
domestic: heavy investment by Iran's state-owned telecom company has greatly improved and expanded both the fixed-line and mobile cellular networks; a huge percentage of the cell phones in the market have been smuggled into the country
international: country code - 98; submarine fiber-optic cable to UAE with access to Fiber-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG); Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic line runs from Azerbaijan through the northern portion of Iran to Turkmenistan with expansion to Georgia and Azerbaijan; HF radio and microwave radio relay to Turkey, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Syria, Kuwait, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; satellite earth stations - 13 (9 Intelsat and 4 Inmarsat) (2015)

Broadcast media:
state-run broadcast media with no private, independent broadcasters; Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), the state-run TV broadcaster, operates 5 nationwide channels, a news channel, about 30 provincial channels, and several international channels; about 20 foreign Persian-language TV stations broadcasting on satellite TV are capable of being seen in Iran; satellite dishes are illegal and, while their use had been tolerated, authorities began confiscating satellite dishes following the unrest stemming from the 2009 presidential election; IRIB operates 8 nationwide radio networks, a number of provincial stations, and an external service; most major international broadcasters transmit to Iran (2009)

Internet country code:
.ir

Internet users:
total: 36.07 million
[see also: Internet users - total country ranks ]
percent of population: 44.1% (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Internet users - percent of population country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 21