Page 50 - IRANRptAug18

KLM has faced tremendous opposition from Iran’s Mahan Air, which also covers the same routes and offers competitive pricing, in a previous quote by company officials who spoke with bne Intellinews e arlier this year.
KLM said its last flight to Iran would leave Amsterdam on September 22 and return a day later.
The company last stopped flights to the country when sanctions were placed on the Iranian economy in 2013 but later resumed them, opening new offices in Tehran in 2016 after the nuclear deal was signed with Iran the previous year. The company initially saw strong demand from both inbound and outbound traffic from Tehran, with several dozen business delegations visiting Iran during the time as well as hosting thousands of tourists from western Europe and returning Iranians.
Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Austrian Airlines said it would remove its flights to Iran’s southern cities of Isfahan and Shiraz by September. However, the carrier will keep its Tehran connection open.
Despite efforts by Iranian authorities to repeat calls that the country is open to tourism, numbers have remained positive as the currency collapse has helped foreigners’ money go further.
According to the latest numbers released by Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization, 5.1mn travellers visited the country in the previous Persian year to March 21, seeing a 4.33% rise to 4.9mn visitors. Meanwhile, other new figures say that last year 10mn Iranians travelled abroad. 2.5mn alone went to Turkey.
9.2.4 TMT corporate news
Iran's Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has permitted Ertebatate Sayar Houshmande Amin (AMIN S.M.C) to begin offering a new mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that is directed at young children and teenagers, ICTNA reported on July 30.
More than a dozen MVNOs that rent bandwidth from main providers are currently in existence in Iran, but the market segment has low profitability . Several smaller virtual operators have struggled to gain a foothold given the competition with major players including Mobile Communications of Iran (MCI), MTN-Irancell and Rightel, all three of which have managed to retain their customers in recent years.
The new MVNO brand called Teen Taak was launched on the sidelines of the ongoing Elecomp digital industries exhibition in northern Tehran.
Hamid Reza Amirinia, chairman of the board of directors of Amin S.M.C., said that with the emphasis placed by the company on the safety of children and young people in the digital domain, “we believe that Iranian children and teens can participate in a healthy digital environment”.
The new operator has been awarded a five-year licence.
The leading MVNO in Iran is operated by the country’s largest fixed-line ADSL provider Shatel . It uses MCI’s broadcasting capabilities.
Tabriz-headquartered NeginTel, another MVNO, recently launched its first mobile phone SIM cards. They are aimed at fans of Tractor Sazi FC under the regionally designated name of AZARTEL.
South Africa’s largest telecommunications company, MTN, has halted further cooperation with its partner in Iran, Iranian Net, Mehr News reported on July 20. The two firms agreed last year to invest jointly in the development of fibre optic internet provision in Tehran and across Iran, but MTN, represented in the country by MTN-Irancell, of which it owns 49%, has
50 IRAN Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com