Telecommunication Company of Iran, or TCI ({{lang-fa|شرکت مخابرات ایران}}) is the fixed-line incumbent operator in Iran offering services in fixed telephony, DSL and data services for both residential and business customers, all throughout the country. It was established in 1971 with a new organizational structure as the main responsible administration for the entire telecommunication affairs.

Iran Telecommunication Industries (ITI) was also founded in the same year to manufacture the required equipment for the national long-distance network. TCI has monopoly over Iran's fixed line infrastructure, and it was until 2010, Iran's largest cellular operator (MCI) and Internet service provider and data communication operator (DCI).^[1] As of November 2010, MCI accounts for more than 70% of TCI’s profit.^[2]

TCI has utilized equipment and services such as digital switching centers, optical fiber cables, mobile phones, data networks, satellite services, and telephone special services. TCI manufactures more than 80% of the required equipment inside Iran.^[3]{{not in ref| date=November 2017}}

TCI is exporting technical and engineering services, as well as consulting and contracting services. It is also responsible for censoring most of the internet in Iran, as serves as a bottleneck for the monitoring of all communications.{{citation needed| date=November 2017}}

Privatization

In March 2007, TCI and its provincial affiliated companies received the government’s permission to be privatized. TCI’s Infrastructure Telecom Company will be detached from it and would continue its activities as a part of the ICT Ministry. Close to 33 companies in the telecom sector are expected to be privatized.

In September 2007, the Ministry of ICT announced that 51% of TCI would be privatized before the end of the Iranian calendar year on 20 March 2008. As a forerunner to the sale of a controlling stake in TCI, a 5% stake in the operator was scheduled be floated on the Tehran Stock Exchange before the end of December 2007. The flotation of this minority stake did not take place as planned, and in January 2008 it was reported that TCI would first have to be established as a fully licensed telecoms service provider.^[5]

In April 2008, TCI Chairman Saber Feizi said that the various affiliated companies were interconnected in such a way as to make it impossible to separate them when the company is eventually offered for sale on the stock exchange. Feizi, therefore, stressed that TCI would be sold along with all its subsidiaries, including mobile business unit Mobile Communications Company of Iran (MCI).^[6]

In 2008, TCI had almost 25 million fixed-line subscribers. TCI employed 38,000 permanent employees—13,500 of which are slated to retire during the next three years—and about 45,000 temporary employees through private subcontractors, which will no longer be used after privatization (March 2009).^[7]{{dead link| date=October 2017}}

In October 2018 , an IRGC unit in charge of the body’s economic operations announced in a statement it has left Iran’s telecommunications industry, after selling its share in a consortium controlling Iran’s top telecoms companies and biggest mobile phone operator. “In line with guidelines of the chief of staff of armed forces, the IRGC’s Cooperative Foundation sold its share and left Tose’e Etemad Mobin,” statement said, as quoted by Sepah News.^[8]

IPO

End of September 2009, Mobin Trust Consortium along with Tose'e Etemad Investment Company and Sina Bank won the tender for TCI (50% + one, shares) for $7.8 billion.^[9] This company partially belongs to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.^[10] The Government Ministry owns the remaining 40%, TCI employees 5% and 5% was sold in the Tehran Stock Exchange.^[11]

Foreign projects

TCI's main subsidiaries

• Iran Telecommunication Manufacturing Company (ITMC) - owned by TCI (45%), Industry Bank (35%) and Siemens (20%)^[13]{{dead link| date=November 2017}}
• Iran Telecommunication Industries (ITI) - ITI was established in 1973 in Shiraz as a fully owned subsidiary of TCI. Within the past 20 years ITI has equipped the telecommunications network, manufactured the analogue and digital transmission equipment, and has also contributed to the communications developments in Iran. As of 2001, ITI employed over 2000 staff. The company is responsible for maintaining and expanding Iran's telecom network and providing all the necessary hardware and software in this field.
• Telecommunication Network Planning and Development Company, renamed to Telecommunication Infrastructure Company
• Optical Fiber and Solar Cell Fabrication Company
• Shahid Ghandi Communication Cables Co.
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070407082226/http://www.dci.co.ir/english/index.asp Data Communications of Iran (DCI)] - DCI maintains the network infrastructure, providing Internet access via the IRANPAK X.25 packet-switching network, which covers most major cities. DCI is the only ISP with a permit for supplying government agencies. DCI supplies both dial-up and leased lines to its users.^[14]

See also

• Communications in Iran

References

External links

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20100617155934/http://tci.ir/default.aspx?lang=En Official Website (English pages)]
• Information Technology in Iran
• Iran telecom surveillance system
• Iran Telecommunication's research center