TEHRAN - The number of broadband internet users in the country rose by some 8.5 percent in the previous calendar year that ended on March 20 to reach more than 116 million.

Figures by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) released on Thursday showed that the number of broadband mobile internet users in Iran had reached over 105.18 million in the year to late March, up more than 10 percent compared to its preceding year, Press TV reported.

Figures on Iran's fixed broadband use were almost unchanged last calendar year compared to the year to March 2022 as the total number of users reached 11.054 million over the period.

Iran's broadband internet penetration rate reached 138% in the year to late March while access to broadband mobile exceeded 125% over the period, the CRA said.

With a population of nearly 85 million, Iran is one of the largest internet markets in the West Asia region.

However, despite a rapid expansion of mobile internet services in Iran, the country has been struggling to improve its fixed broadband infrastructure in recent years.

The Iranian telecoms ministry said in May that it had earmarked more resources for an ambitious plan to provide optic fiber broadband to some 20 million customers across the country.

The ministry has also ordered mobile phone operators in Iran to allocate 8% of their net income to the project, which is technically known as the fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).

Experts say expansion of the optic fiber network can lead to a major improvement in the quality and speed of fixed internet services in Iran.

The Iranian government hopes the number of households and businesses with access to FTTH broadband could reach 10 million by late March 2024.

The internet penetration rate in Iran has exceeded 123 percent, according to the latest statistics of the Communications Regulatory Authority, published in January.

The data showed that the mobile internet penetration rate in the country has reached 109.27 percent, up by over 26 percent compared to figures reported in 2019.

Moreover, the number of Iranian mobile users reached nearly 135.890 million, according to the CRA which put the mobile phone penetration rate in the country at 161.67 percent.

The figures showed, however, that fixed broadband adoption in Iran had stalled at 14 percent with nearly 11.921 million customers having access to the Internet via those services.

This statistic shows that fixed broadband internet has grown by less than 2 percent compared to last year and mobile internet has experienced a growth of 10 percent. However, it can be said that the speed of mobile internet expansion is 5 times the speed of fixed internet.

The opposite is true in most countries, where fixed internet is growing faster.

Access to telecommunication services in rural areas of the country had improved over the period as the overall number of villages with access to communication services rose to 52,182, around 93 percent of all villages, while 47,837 villages had access to home landline services.

MG