Internet outage in Iran exacerbates the business crisis…daily losses exceed $30 million

The repercussions of blocking Internet in Iran, casting a heavy shadow on the business sector and pioneers of the digital economy, despite the entry into force of the ceasefire between Tehran and Washington on April 8, as millions of Iranians are still deprived of connection to the global network, at a time when only a limited internal network is operating that does not meet the requirements of daily activities.

In this context, the interior design engineer found "Hey"who lives in Tehran, herself is forced to sell valuables and gold in order to be able to pay the salaries of her employees, after her business was directly affected by the ongoing outage.
She confirms that she is no longer able to use basic tools in her work, such as artificial intelligence and the search engine. "Google" And even email normally.

Mahala, a businesswoman in her fifties, explains that her business relies heavily on winter revenues to finance its annual activity, but the situation has become unstable since the protests that the country witnessed in January, and worsened during the war period, which ultimately forced her to reduce the number of her employees to only one employee.

A digital economy under pressure

The crisis is not limited to an individual case, as many business owners complain about the difficulty of continuing in light of the imposed restrictions, as she confirms. Wait, many people can no longer work, and that a state of exhaustion and helplessness dominates entrepreneurs, in the absence of any clear horizon, also pointing to the spread of fraud through the sale of networks. "VPN" Fake exploiting users’ needs.

Mahdi, a 49-year-old accountant, explains that the labor market was already suffering before the crisis, and that the situation has gotten worse with Internet outage, indicating that searching for job opportunities has become almost impossible in light of the network’s disruption and the failure to update available jobs.

Millions of dollars in damage

Official estimates indicate the size of large economic losses, as Minister of Communications Sattar Hashemi estimated the damage at more than 30 million dollars per day, while the head of the Knowledge Economy Committee in the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, Afshin Kolahi, indicated that the losses range between 30 and 40 million dollars per day, stressing that the country is losing the equivalent of production. Two medium-sized power stations per day.

In the same context, an organization confirmed "netblocks" The Cyber ​​Security Department said that the Internet outage in Iran lasted for 50 days, which is an unprecedented period globally, noting that the level of connectivity does not exceed about 2% of its normal levels.

As the Human Rights Activists News Agency indicated "Harana" This outage caused great damage to the digital economy, despite the difficulty of verifying data in light of the restrictions imposed on communications.

A sharp decline in commercial activity

The crisis is also reflected in companies that work with Iran from abroad, as Maryam, the owner of an electronic company based in Paris, confirms that in the last two months she has received only 10 requests, compared to an average of between 4 and 5 requests per day in normal circumstances, noting the difficulty of accessing communication platforms such as "Telegram" and"Instagram" and"WhatsApp"

She also pointed out that she had lost the ability to communicate with her employees in Tehran since the first week of the war, especially with her refusal to use local applications for security reasons.

Rumors without results

In light of these conditions, rumors circulate from time to time about an imminent return to the Internet, but the network was only partially restored after the January protests, before it was completely blocked again during the conflict.

Many do not expect an improvement soon, as expressed by Amir, a man in his forties, described the growing state of discontent, noting that the authorities justify the continued interruption by unsuitable circumstances, without recognizing that access to the Internet represents a basic right, only acknowledging its negative impact on the economy.

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