Mobile phone subscriptions have more than quarupled in North Korea in 12 months, the operator said on November 9, as a growing number of youths in the reclusive communist state clamour for wireless telecom. Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding said in its third quarter earnings report that the number of subscribers in the country had jumped to 301,199 by the end of September from 69,261 a year earlier.
"Koryolink continued the utilisation of its 3G network and successfully launched the video calling service to the market which resulted in a high level of demand, especially from the youth segment," it said on its website Sunday.
Koryolink is Orascom's subsdiary in North Korea.
However, Orascom said overall "mobile penetration" remains at one percent in the country. which has a per-capita GDP of 1,900 dollars and a population of 22.8 million. North Korea has strictly controlled access to outside information and fixes the tuning controls of radios and televisions to official stations.
It began a mobile phone service in November 2002 but shut it down without explanation 18 months later and began recalling handsets. But in December 2008, the country introduced a 3G mobile phone network in a joint venture with Orascom.