DUBAI: Iran’s state-run broadcaster has refused to allocate parts of its unused frequency bands, effectively keeping its monopolistic hold on the country’s internet infrastructure and keeping connectivity at barest minimum. The Islamic republic’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) and local internet infrastructure companies need 700 MHz and 800 MHz frequencies to develop the fifth-generation mobile Internet technology and increase the network capacity and speed, broadcast agency Radio Farda said, but gaining access to them means weakening the state TV’s monopoly on the production of videos and the flow of information. Communications authorities believe the frequency bands, if utilized, can lead to a reduction in the costs of connectivity cost and an increase in quality of internet in Iran. The lower the frequency, the larger would be its wavelength and the higher its coverage and resistance to disruption, Radio Farda said. Through the application of low frequencies, operators can create more and better coverage with the least amount of investment, and broadband networks are less expensive for the consumer, it added. These frequencies are no longer used by television networks elsewhere in the world, and they are usually released for the development of mobile Internet. Mohammad Javad Jahromi, the MICT minister, has admitted that the mobile network in Tehran has reached its maximum nominal capacity, and the only way to increase the bandwidth capacity is to add the frequency exclusively possessed by the state-run radio and television network. “We’ve been trying to get hold of the frequencies for three years ... but they have not cooperated”, Jahromi said.