Page 78 - IRANRptAug22

Iranian Netflix clone launched by MCI
apps locally.
Netbox, a startup Iranian video-on-demand service, has been launched by Mobile Communications of Iran (MCI), Digiato has reported.
The platform was created by graduates of Sharif University of Technology, sometimes referred to as the "MIT" of Iran. The graduates received funding from MCI as part of an initial round of venture capital investment.
MCI’s investment arm announced in March that it would invest Iranian rial (IRR) 750bn ($2.77mn at the free market rate, $17.8mn at the official exchange rate) in two startups.
Mohammad Mehdi Abbaskhani, CEO of the investment arm, said that more than 200 business plans from companies in fintech, tourism, media, health and education were reviewed by his staff this year alone.
Netbox has entered a market with stiff competition. However, foreign streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime are blocked in Iran.
One streaming platform already in operation on the domestic market is Filimo. It said in March that it was expanding its reach to other countries with Persian speakers, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.
MCI, despite being the largest and oldest established mobile provider in Iran, has struggled to keep up with its main rival, MTN-Irancell, co-owned by South Africa’s MTN, which has invested huge sums in recent years into tech and e-commerce.
9.2.5 Renewable energy corporate news
Iranian power plant constructor MAPNA announces record $2.5bn in technology and engineering exports
Iranian power plant consructor MAPNA Group achieved a record $2.5bn of technology and engineering exports in the 12 months to July, according to the group’s CEO Abbas Aliabadi, as cited by Otagh Iran. Speaking at a press conference, Aliabadi said MAPNA carried out several key infrastructure projects in Iraq and Syria during the past year.
“The total capacity of power plants we built in neighbouring countries over the past year was 5,668 megawatts, which is a good record and was worth 2.5 billion euros,” he added.
Aliabadi said that the efforts of MAPNA, by far the largest Iranian power plant developer, supplied 540MW of electricity to Iraq’s grid in the three months to July, with the plants behind the supply bearing an investment value of €300mn.
Two other power plants built by MAPNA in Iraq were ready for synchronisation with the electricity grid, he also said.
MAPNA contributed to the reconstruction of a major power plant in Syria’s second largest city of Aleppo, a city that has been left in ruins in the country’s civil war.
Three other MAPNA power plants are under construction in Latakia on Syria’s Mediterranean coast, an area of the country that has escaped relatively unscathed from civil war damage.
Aliabadi said MAPNA also carried out dozens of power plant projects in Iran over the year to July, adding that the total capacity that they added to the Iranian electricity grid was around 5,800 MW.
78 IRAN Country Report August 2022 www.intellinews.com