Deputy minister: Digital economy suffers $14m daily losses over Internet outages
Daily Internet disruptions in Iran are inflicting approximately 14.1 million dollars (2,000 billion tomans) in direct economic losses on the country’s digital sector, according to Ehsan Chitsaz, a deputy telecom minister for digital economy.
“Daily Internet outages cause 2,000 billion tomans in damages,” Chitsaz said, emphasizing that the losses are not confined to digital businesses alone. Traditional commerce, he noted, has also become heavily reliant on digital tools for essential communications, customer engagement, and operations.
Chitsaz warned that turning emergency measures like Internet filtering into permanent policy undermines their effectiveness during actual crises. “Converting emergency approaches such as filtering into a routine practice eliminates their impact when real emergencies arise,” he said. “Continuing this mistaken policy not only forces authorities to resort to complete communication blackouts but also drives people toward alternative tools, rendering future restrictions ineffective — and could ultimately lead to power outages.”
The remarks come as Iran’s digital economy struggles to recover from a recent decline. After falling from 4.62% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 to 4.02% in 2023, the sector was projected to rebound to around 4.63% by 2025. The digital economy encompasses telecom operators, digital service platforms, and traditional industries upgraded with technologies like artificial intelligence — sectors that depend entirely on stable connectivity.
“Sustainable communications are the core infrastructure of this entire chain,” Chitsaz said. “Without it, smart transformation and concepts like artificial intelligence become meaningless.”
He highlighted that advertising investments are made based on expected sales, but when the digital chain is severed, businesses require five to six months to return to previous revenue cycles. Given limited cash flow and low resilience in the sector, prolonged disruptions are already triggering workforce reductions and causing structural, long-term damage.
The consequences extend beyond immediate revenue loss. “The damage isn’t limited to fast-turnover businesses,” Chitsaz said. “Digital tourism, digital health, and digital advertising face far more complex and severe repercussions.” He also cited the erosion of foreign commercial trust, disruptions in foreign exchange rate determination, and increased volatility in the gold market as additional fallout from recurring Internet blackouts.
Access to the global Internet had been fully blocked since January 9 following deadly riots and terrorist acts on the streets.
The restrictions were imposed shortly after extensive unrest began on January 8 and persisted for several days in towns and major cities across Iran.