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Eurasia
May, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 15
Iranian government set to block hugely popular Telegram messaging app
bne IntelliNews
The Telegram messaging app of the charismatic Pavel Durov and his brother and co-founder Nikolai does not sit well with Iranian hardliners.
Iran’s government is set to permanently block the immensely popular Telegram Messenger mes- saging service by April 20, according to a state- ment by a government official cited by Mehr News Agency on March 31.
Dubai-headquartered Telegram Messenger, created by self-exiled Russian Pavel Durov, has become Iran’s most used mobile application in re- cent years with some 40 million people, or roughly one-half of the country’s population, or four-fifths of Iranians with Internet access, now using it. The
Iran's black market phone disconnection drive pushes up legal mobile imports
bne IntelliNews
Unregistered mobile phones in Iran are being dis- connected remotely by the authorities.
Iran recorded non-black market mobile phone imports numbering 3.2mn handsets in the last Persian year (ended March 20), marking a 112% y/y gain, Tasnim News Agency reported on April 16.
The sudden spike in imports was down to the
cloud-based app, which provides encryption, has repeatedly been threatened with closure by the Iranian judiciary with Durov being put on trial in absentia for facilitating protests via Telegram’s software. During the height of the winter street demonstrations movement in Iran, a temporary ban was placed on both Instagram and Telegram from December 30 to January 13.
Aleaddin Boroujerdi, chairman of the National Se- curity and Foreign Policy Committee of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran, announced the ban during a radio interview, the news agency reported. He reportedly said the rumours of a upcoming pro- hibition were true and that the application would be blocked in just over three weeks’ time.
Rouhani administration’s push to shut down the wholesale black market for mobile phones. Since earlier this year, the country’s telecommunications ombudsman, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA), has barred unregistered mobile phones from the telecom network, rendering use- less thousands of premium handsets such as Ap- ple iPhones. There are reports that the scheme has caused difficulties for tourists and visiting business