Telecom ministry plans to create 100,000 jobs by March: minister
Iranian Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi says the ministry plans to create 100,000 jobs in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2016.
Vaezi told the Tehran Times on Saturday that the jobs will be created in the field of information and communication technology (ICT) and related industries.
He put the job creation figure, which was planned by the ministry for the previous calendar year, at 30,000.
“We are planning to issue different licenses such as contact center license which will lead to creation of more jobs in this year”, the official mentioned.
“We think that job creation is a goal achievable at some low cost in our field of activity”, he noted.
Vaezi went on to say that Iranian government has invested 17 trillion rials (about $510 million) in development of telecommunication infrastructures in the country during the past Iranian calendar year. It is while Iran’s private sector invested about 50 trillion rials (about $1.5 billion) in this field in the past year.
“Our plan in the ministry is to prepare infrastructures required for implementation of telecommunication projects in the country and transfer rest of the job to the private sector; in a way that private sector is projected to make investment 3-4 folds more than the government in Iran’s telecommunication development”, the minister stated.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Vaezi said that for the time being, Iran has two experimental satellites ready to be launched.
The country is studying locations in Semnan province (north central Iran), Chabahar city (in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province) and Mahdasht city (in north central Alborz province) for launching the satellites, he added.
The country has also plans to build two satellites through joint venture with the foreign companies, the minister said, adding that, one of them is a telecommunication satellite and the other one is a remote-sensing satellite.
He said Iran has already negotiated with some French and Russian companies and also has received suggestions from some Japanese companies for building the satellites, adding that, the number of companies ready to cooperate with Iran in this field will increase after the sanctions are lifted against the country.
“We in the country will be able to build satellite by ourselves by the next 13-15 years”, the minister highlighted.
On August 18, Vaezi told the Mehr News Agency that while international contracts are needed to be signed to accomplish past satellite missions which have yet to be completed, Iran will try minimum reliance on help from abroad and will instead tap domestic capabilities as much as possible.
Iran launched its first indigenous satellite, Omid (hope), in 2009, and also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using the indigenous Kavoshgar-3 (explorer-3) carrier.