Page 50 - IRANRptSep21

In March, MCI announced that it was pushing ahead with plans to roll-out fifth-generation internet for its customers, including in regional cities, to play catch-up with its main rival.
The Iranian government is keen on the rolling out of 5G as part of plans to bring business and government services online to reduce overall operating costs.
However, outgoing minister of information and communications technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi has in recent years sometimes drawn the ire of conservative factions by pushing ahead with 5G plans in ways they deem irresponsible in relation to security, cultural, religious or other sensibilities.
Mobile phone internet services in Iran are being disrupted amid the drought protests largely in the southwest of the country that have now lasted a week, London-based internet monitoring group NetBlocks.org said on July 22.
At least three people have been killed during the demonstrations, with the country facing its worst drought in 50 years.
NetBlocks.org said some of the internet outages were caused by “state information controls or targeted internet shutdowns”. Landline services continued, but the approach of the authorities was “consistent with a regional internet shutdown intended to control protests”, it added.
Overall, the impact amounted to “a near-total internet shutdown that is likely to limit the public’s ability to express political discontent or communicate with each other and the outside world”, NetBlocks said.
The Iranian authorities appear to be using the slowing or blocking of the internet as a matter of course nowadays whenever they are faced by unrest on the streets that appears either substantial or brimming with potential for escalation. In November 2019, Tehran shut down internet access in Iran, a country of 84mn, nationally amid widespread public protests.
The reformist Etemad newspaper, meanwhile, reported that the hashtag "I am thirsty" in Arabic was trending on social media to draw attention to the plight of the province of Khuzestan, which is facing severe water shortages. Khuzestan is home to a large Sunni Arab minority, which has often raised concerns about marginalisation in mainly Shia Iran.
Over the years, summer heatwaves and sandstorms blowing in from Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Iraq have dried up Khuzestan's once fertile plains. Scientists have said climate change is exacerbating the droughts.
Also on July 22, Iran’s president, Hassan Rouhani, whose second and final term in office ends on August 3, said that citizens have the right to protest against water shortages.
The people of Khuzestan “have the right to speak, express themselves, protest and even take to the streets within the framework of the regulations,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast on state television.
50 IRAN Country Report September 2021 www.intellinews.com