politics
Iran Maintains Tiered Internet Access for Businesses and Academics Three Months After Protests and Cyberattacks
The longest internet blackout on record, which began Jan. 8 amid anti-government protests, has cost Iranians $1.8 billion in two months while a privileged access program approved in February grants select users full global connectivity. Businesses, unions and President Masoud Pezeshkian’s office have criticized the tiered system. Starlink devices are being smuggled despite severe legal risks.
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Iran's internet blackout, now more than two months old as of May 10, is the longest on record. The shutdown began Jan. 8 amid anti-government protests and has inflicted widespread economic pain. 8 billion over the past two months, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran.
That figure tallies with an estimate from Iran’s Chamber of Commerce. Businesses complained of harm from restricted internet access during nationwide protests in January. In response, the Internet Pro program was launched in February and its sale began that month through the Mobile Communications Company of Iran.
MCI is owned by a consortium with close ties to the IRGC. The Supreme National Security Council approved Internet Pro in February. Internet Pro emphasizes connection stability and less restricted access to international sites.
Users must pass a verification process and have a business, academic or scientific role to access it. The program works through telecom-level whitelisting tied to white SIM cards. Users with white SIMs retain access to the full global internet.
8 million toman. Each additional gigabyte costs roughly 40,000 toman. Ordinary internet costs 8,000 toman per gigabyte.
The price of black-market VPN apps has skyrocketed. "Imagine dealing with unemployment and crazy inflation, and somehow managing to scrape together 500,000 or a million tomans (about $13), only to spend it on a couple of gigabytes of VPN just so you can get on X or other platforms, check the news, and have a voice," Faraz, a 38-year-old resident of Tehran, told CNN.
