Tehran, Iran, April 20
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
An Iranian official has said that two giant internet businesses in Iran, DIGI Kala and Snap, are operating at a loss.
“As of today, Snap is one of the largest online taxi networks, which, according to daily statistics, delivers a million tripsa day which is comparable with Uber, but today this huge network is operating at a loss and DIGI Kala is the same,” Reza Olfat Nasab, director of Iran's Internet Business Association, told Trend.
"At present, only 1.2 percent of the total volume of Iranian commerce market is available online. This means that about 99 percent of the market is still traditionally managed. However, according to supposedly clear future for online business in Iran, they decide to go forward and they are getting sponsors,” he added.
He believes that lack of legal infrastructure as well as hardware and software obstacles are the causes of today's problems in online businesses.
“On the other hand, there is an issue of security in this kind of investment, and sometimes the owners of the business or investor suffer from lack of investment security,” he added.
However, Olfat Nasab is still hopeful that his country has a chance to rank as the first Middle Eastern state in terms of doing online business in the coming years.