Mail.ru Group eyes Iranian market as ICQ gains popularity in the country

Unlike Yandex, which a few months ago declined government invites to enter the Iranian market, Mail.ru Group, a leading, LSE-listed Russian Internet group, is “engaged in a marketing investigation and research” of this market.

In particular, young Iranians have shown great interest in ICQ, an international messenger service that belongs to the group, with about 35,000 users having already downloaded it, reports Sputnik.

In an exchange with the online news agency, Igor Ermakov, the head of the Instant Messaging division at Mail.ru Group, presented the messenger’s newest features. He also explained why ICQ Messenger, which was once so popular amongst Russian youth, is gaining popularity in Arabic countries and Iran.