Network Monitor

Network Monitor – August 2021

While no major shutdowns were observed in August, a number of minor disruptions affected Iran's internet services.

Overall Situation

Recent months have seen Iranians facing a number of protracted challenges accessing the global Internet – including localised shutdowns in Yasuj and Khuzestan, and disruptions due to power outages. By contrast, there were relatively few noteworthy disruptions in August. Any disruptions that the Filterwatch team did observe appeared to last for only a short duration, and seemed to lack any relation to political events or protests.

According to data from IODA, Iran experienced a brief period of disruption on the morning of 1 August, although the cause of this is not clear. 

Regional Outages

According to the IODA map, the provinces of South Khorasan, Hamadan, Zanjan, Kerman, Razavi Khorasan, Gilan, North Khorasan, Qazvin, Ardebil, Fars, and West Azarbaijan experienced the most disruptions in August.

Disruptions on Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology (IROST) (a governmental research institution at AS61391) and the Iran Telecommunication Company (TCI) (on AS58224) accounted for the worst of the disruptions in South Khorasan province. Disruptions to TCI (on AS58224) also affected users nearly nationwide.

Provider Outages

This AS belongs to the third most widely used mobile phone network operator in Iran. Disruptions on AS57218 affected users in Tehran for the entire month.

This AS belongs to the mobile phone network operator and internet provider company. Disruptions on AS31549 on 7 August affected users in Semnan and Tehran.

  • AS44400 – Ertebatat Sabet Parsian Co.:

This AS belongs to a private sector consortium consisting of a total of 140 shareholders, who are among the leading individuals and companies providing communication and telecommunication services nationwide. Disruptions on AS31549 on 1 August affected users in Fars, Razavi Khorasan, Tehran, Ilam, and Khuzestan.

This is a local ISP in Tehran. The disruptions on their network affected users in Tehran on 17 August. 

This is a local ISP in the city of Rasht. The disruptions on their network affected users in East Azarbaijan between 1-9 August.

This AS belongs to an internet service provider. Disruptions on AS49100 affected users in Kerman, Alborz, Lorestan, Semnan, Esfahan, and Tehran on 1 August.

This AS serves one of the largest internet providers in Iran. The disruption on AS42337 affected users in Kerman, Razavi Khorasan, Qazvin, Fars, Khuzestan, Kordestan, Kermanshah, Alborz, East Azarbaijan, and Mazandaran on 1 August. 

 

About the author

Amir Rashidi

Filterwatch