Cellular
Koryolink hits a million subscribers
Feb 3rd
Koryolink, North Korea’s only commercial 3G cell phone network, has signed up its millionth subscriber. The landmark was reached just over three years since service was launched.
Koryolink has been adding more than 100,000 new subscribers for each of the last five quarters and was expected to hit the million mark in early 2012.
The company is operated by Cheo Technology, which is a joint venture between Egypt’s Orascom Telecom Media And Technology Holding (OTMT) and North Korea’s Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. OTMT holds a 75 percent stake and the North Korean government owns the remaining 25 percent.
Koryolink’s service has popularized cell More >
Koryolink sponsors Taekwondo championship
Nov 19th
This week’s earnings report for Koryolink, North Korea’s only widely available cell phone service, highlighted something I missed back in September: the company was a major sponsor of the 17th Taekwondo World Championships. The event took place in Pyongyang from September 6th to 12th.
Koryolink banners were strung around the Taekwando Hall where the international contest was taking place, as can be seen in video from KCNA. The company even had one on the front of the judges desk.
In its earnings report Orascom Telecom, the Egypt-based telecommunications company that holds a majority stake in Koryolink, said the deal was unique in North More >
Koryolink surpasses 800,000 3G subscriptions
Nov 18th
North Korea’s nationwide 3G cellular network could miss an end-of-year target to have a million subscribers despite two successive quarters of record subscriber growth.
Koryolink added 142,000 subscriptions in the third quarter, beating the 131,000 subscriptions added in the previous three months, to end September with 809,000 users. That leaves it 191,000 subscribers short of hitting a million users — a 2011 target that had been talked about at the beginning of the year. Based on current subscriber growth it appears that Koryolink will come close to the million mark but — barring a surge of new sign-ups in the current quarter — More >
Nautilus on DPRK’s digital revolution
Nov 4th
The Nautilus Institute contends in a new report that North Korea is on the cusp of digital transformation thanks to the increasing importance of cell phones and computers in the country.
The report, which is available online (PDF), is a comprehensive and well-researched history and study of the emerging digital communications business in North Korea and was written by Alexandre Y. Mansourov, a senior associate at the organization. Mansourov specializes in Korean peninsula issues and once lived in Pyongyang studying for an Advanced Diploma in Korean studies at Kim Il Sung University.
It’s recommended reading for anyone interested in North Korean IT issues.
In the report Mansourov More >
Orascom planning 3G Internet service
Oct 17th
Orascom Telecom is planning to add Internet service to its 3G cellular offering in North Korea, according to the Choson Exchange blog.
Writing in a post on Sunday, Geoffrey K. See, the organization’s executive director and founder, says the service is currently being tested but should be available in the near future. The information on the service came from a meeting with Orascom employees in Pyongyang.
At first it will be available to resident foreigners living in Pyongyang. So far there is no approval for a wider service, even in censored form, for the North Korean subscribers. Orascom didn’t provide any details on More >
Koryolink sees another record quarter
Aug 25th
Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G network operator, added a record number of subscribers in the second quarter of 2011, but the company will have to push harder if it’s to reach a million users by the end of the year.
The company ended the quarter with 666,517 subscribers, according to Orascom Telecom. Egypt’s Orascom holds a 75 percent stake in Cheo Technology, which operates the service under the Koryolink brand name. The remaining 25 percent stake is held by the government-owned Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co. (KPTC).
The company added 131,384 subscribers during the April to June quarter, putting the quarter just More >
Internet, mobile phones eyed for Mt. Kumgang
Jul 11th
North Korea plans to allow Internet access and the use of mobile phones by visitors to the Mount Kumgang tourism zone.
Visitors are typically relieved of their mobile phones when entering North Korea and public Internet access is not available inside the country.
But the country is establishing a special tourism zone around Mount Kumgang, the scenic North Korean mountain resort that was the subject of a previous tourism agreement with Hyundai. The South Korean company halted tours to the area in July 2008 after a South Korean tourist was accidentally shot while walking along a beach in the region.
More than a More >
Fines for using Chinese mobile phones
Jun 26th
AsiaPress has detailed the fines North Koreans face if they get caught using Chinese mobile phones.
The use of such phones is prohibited in North Korea, but some citizens secretly use them to make uncensored calls to contacts in China, South Korea and other countries. Among them are a handful of North Korean “citizen reporters” that feed information to AsiaPress.
The agency says a fine of 1 million North Korean won is levied on anyone caught calling South Korea. The fine for a phone call to China is between 400,000 won and 600,000 won, it reported. Additionally, violators face up to a More >
Koryolink hits half a million 3G subscriptions
May 20th
Are things starting to get tough for Koryolink?
North Korea’s only 3G cellular provider has published its quarterly results and the headline numbers look good.
Subscriptions are at a record 535,133 and quarterly revenue has never been higher at US$25.8 million, but look a little closer and you’ll see the company is having to push harder to get new customers and existing customers are spending less.
Quarterly growth was 103,214 subscriptions, the third highest yet recorded since service began in the final weeks of 2008. That growth made the January to March quarter the first since mid 2009 where quarter-on-quarter growth failed to More >
Koryolink 2010 full-year results
Apr 19th
Full-year results for Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G cellular carrier, have been announced by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom. Orascom holds a 75 percent stake in Cheo Technology, which is the company that operates the Koryolink service. The remaining 25 percent stake is held by the government-run Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co. (KPTC).
The results show continued strong performance for the unit, which has been trying to expand use of the service by offering lower prices.
You can read the headline take in this story: North Korea’s Sole 3G Operator Sees Users and Revenue Surge, PC World.
The network expansion has continued and the company More >
