North Korean Economy Watch

According to Martyn Williams in PC World:

North Korea’s sole 3G network operator has managed to double its subscriber base in a little over a year and is about to hit 2 million users.

Koryolink launched service in the final days of 2008 and has become one of the most visible foreign partnership success stories in the country.

The network operator is jointly owned by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding (OTMT) and North Korea’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. Orascom holds a 75 percent majority stake with the remainder in the hands of the government.

Before Koryolink’s service began, mobile phones were an unusual sight in Pyongyang, but that has changed in recent years. Visitors speak of seeing scores of citizens talking and texting from mobile handsets.

2 million subscribers is approximately 8.3% of the North Korean population.  The majority of subscribers are likely to be in Pyongyang but we do not have any data on the internal distribution of subscriptions. All subscribers are paying in hard currency, though none of it has been repatriated from the DPRK.

More information available at North Korea Tech.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 27th, 2013 at 1:33 pm and is filed under Cell phones, Communications, Economic reform, Foreign direct investment, Orascom Telecom Holding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.