Iran opens national email service

Each Iranian will be assigned an email address, communication minister says.

TEHRAN, Iran // Iranian state television says the country has opened its own domestically made national email service.

The report aired Sunday quoted Information and Communication Technology Minister Mohammad Hasan Nami as saying local experts created the service's software. The report said each Iranian will be assigned an email address.

The country's postal service will manage the email service.

Iran has discussed for years having its own domestic email service as the government occasionally has blocked access to foreign email providers like Gmail and Yahoo. The country also has blocked and made illegal virtual private networks that allow Iranians to freely use the Internet and access banned websites like those for opposition groups.

Official statistics suggest Iran, home to 75 million people, has some 32 million Internet users.