Minister of Information and Communications Technology Reza Taqipour has dismissed the news reports claiming that Iran will completely shut down access to the Internet once it launches 'national internet', MNA reported.
Claims that Iran plans to disconnect itself from the Internet by August and replace it with national internet has no basis in fact, Taqipour told reporters on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
"We have no national internet, and what we have been assigned to do according to the Fifth (Five-Year) Development Plan is to (establish) a national data network," Taqipour explained.
Iran's Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015) is part of the 20-Year Outlook Plan (2005-2025), which is the country's main blueprint for long-term sustainable growth.