Due to a very high penetration of landline and mobile telephone in Iran, probability sample telephone surveys have been the method of choice for most opinion research companies inside and outside of Iran that focus on the Iranian public opinion.

phone penetration in Iran

Telephone survey is the strongest mode of data collection in Iran, mainly because telephone penetration in Iran is almost universal. In fact, according to the CIA World Factbook, Iran ranks 8th in the world in terms of the number of landlines it has in operation and its per household penetration rate is higher than countries like the United States, Germany, United Kingdom, and Japan, and all other countries in the region.

Based on the Nov. 2017 report by the Statistical Centre of Iran, about 98.8% of Iranians households have access to telephone (landline or mobile telephone or both) at home. These shares were 99% for urban and 97% for rural households. It is important to note that during the past decade, mobile usage has become much more prevalent and percent of households relying on mobile telephone alone has increased to 21% (17% in urban and 31% in rural areas), making utilization of dual-frame (mobile and landline) sampling in telephone surveys more advisable. [Direct URL to the source] [PDF file for the source]