Iran is set to launch the pilot and first phases of its national Internet project in late August in an effort to provide Iranians with higher-bandwidth Internet access, Press TV reported
Iran's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Reza Taqipour told IRNA on Monday that the project's "Phases Zero and One" would be completed and operational in late August.
Taqipour added that the national Iranian Internet will initially offer 8 Mb high speed broadband Internet for home users. The customers will have 20 Mb of bandwidth when the next phases of the national Internet network come on stream.
The remarks come as Iran has also undertaken a project to develop a national search engine dubbed "Ya Haq" by early 2012, which can be accessed through the domestic Internet.
The Iranian minister of communications and information technology also announced on Sunday that the country has developed counter-measures to take on the US "Internet in a suitcase" program.
Taqipour said that certain measures taken by the US government and its allied countries are instances of cyber terrorism, "because these countries say that such measures are taken to create social abnormalities and promote moral corruption and the likes of this in countries opposing them."
Taqipour said one of the ways to counter cyber attacks was generating web content.
"We have detailed plans in the country for producing content and one of our main programs is in the field of telecommunications infrastructure and the creation of a national data network," the Iranian minister expounded.
Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi said on June 29 that the country has adopted proper measures to counter the US "Internet in a suitcase" plot. The administration of US President Barack Obama is actively engaged in the process of establishing "shadow" Internet and mobile phone systems throughout the world.
According to The New York Times, the American covert projects include the creation of independent cell phone networks in foreign countries, as well as the "Internet in a suitcase" program.
"Internet in a suitcase" could also be secretly smuggled across a border and contains all the necessary hardware and networking devices to promptly establish a wireless network over a large area that can connect to the global Internet.
"Internet in a suitcase" is apparently in a prototype stage and the US government has provided a grant of two million dollars to get it up and running.