Iran on Wednesday welcomed SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk’s announcement about offering 100 energetic Starlinks to the Islamic Republic.
Speaking following a Cabinet assembly in Tehran, Minister Information and Communications Technology Issa Zarepour mentioned Tehran welcomes the supply “provided it complies with the laws.”
In a tweet on Monday, three months after he promised to activate the web service in Iran, Musk introduced that his firm is near having 100 energetic Starlinks within the nation.
“Approaching 100 Starlinks active in Iran,” Musk wrote in response to a tweet that learn there’s “more freedom for the women (in Iran) to choose whether they cover their hair or not.”
The US-based billionaire, who lately purchased Twitter in a record-breaking deal, had in September mentioned he would activate Starlink in Iran as a part of an effort “to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information” to Iranians.
The supply got here amid sweeping protests throughout the nation over the dying of a younger Iranian lady, Mahsa Amini, in police custody.
In order to quell indignant protests, Iranian authorities imposed curbs on accessing the web whereas blocking many social media platforms, together with Whatsapp and Instagram.
“According to the laws, any satellite operator that intends to provide internet services in the Islamic Republic of Iran must comply with the laws of the country,” Zerepour mentioned on Wednesday.
He confused that the Iranian legal guidelines “apply to all operators providing satellite internet services”, together with Musk-owned Starlink and London-based One Web.
The minister mentioned each corporations have been notified that in the event that they adhere to the nation’s guidelines and laws, they’re “welcome to have their activities in the country”.
Regarding studies about some telecom corporations incurring losses price billions of {dollars} on account of filtering in current months amid protests, Zarepour mentioned solely Rightel Telecommunications has declared chapter to this point.
Iran has been rocked by widespread protests in current months, ensuing within the dying of greater than 200 individuals, in accordance with officers. Foreign human rights teams, nonetheless, have put the dying toll at greater than 450.
The filtering of social media and low web has been a part of measures taken by the federal government to revive calm, however the measures have been extensively criticized.
