MNA – Iranian ICT Minister Azari Jahromi said Mon. that 10.5 users have signed up to domestic messaging apps and the number is growing, almost a month after Telegram was banned in the country.


ICT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahrami made the remarks after a meeting between officials from Parliament’s commissions of national security, economy and mines and industries, and ministry of communications and CEOs of domestic messaging apps.

Azari Jahromi noted that one million people deleted Telegram from their mobile phones after the popular messaging app was banned in the country almost a month ago.

“Currently, 7 million people have installed domestic messaging apps, and given the fact that some of them have several messaging apps on their phones at the same time, the figures stand at 10.5 active users of Iranian apps, which manage users’ data traffic on a 42GB/s scale,” he said.

According to him, 25 per cent of foreign messaging app users have migrated to domestic apps, and the remaining 75 per cent users are still using Telegram or other foreign apps for communication.

He voiced confidence that the number would continue to rise as domestic apps improve their quality and trust factor.

Azari Jahrami also noted that a number of lawmakers were concerned over the massive use of VPNs which would give users access to other banned content in cyberspace, while others made a point that domestic monopoly was just as bad as the foreign one, suggesting instead to create a proper competitive atmosphere between various messaging apps.