North Korea’s Arirang smartphone has been upgraded. Recent photos of one of the phones show a new model that features an updated version of Google’s Android operating system. The phone was spotted by Aram Pan, a Singapore-based photographer who has made several trips to North Korea. He first posted them on his DPRK 360 Facebook…

 

Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris has taken over as CEO of the parent company of Cheo Technology, which runs North Korea’s Koryolink 3G cellular telephone network. Sawiris assumed the top job at Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT) after the former CEO, Ahmed Abou Doma, stepped down for personal reasons. He had been CEO for less than a…

 

As mobiles become a must-have for the country’s elite, a cultural magazine has reportedly released some guidance on basic etiquette for the connected classes. #104634123 / gettyimages.com By Maeve Shearlaw, The Guardian. North Korea is not thought of as the most tech-savvy country in the world. The state tightly controls the flow of information into, out…

 

Subscriptions to Koryolink, North Korea’s only 3G mobile phone network, have just passed the 2.4 million mark, according to the latest figures from the operator. The figure represents a significant slowdown in growth in the last year over the previous year and points to the first big spurt in subscriptions being over. The carrier might have…

 

North Korea’s sole 3G mobile network operator has moved to plug a potential gap in the country’s considerable national censorship regime. The loophole could have provided North Koreans with unrestricted access to international phone calls and Internet access and relied on the prepaid SIM cards that have been available to tourists since February 2013. The…

 

Shops in cities on the Chinese side of the border are attempting to tempt North Koreans with cheap cellphones for use on their country’s mobile phone network, according to a report by Radio Free Asia. The phones are on sale for about half the price they would fetch in North Korea, but are attracting few…

 

 

A smartphone that was lost in South Korea has apparently surfaced in Pyongyang. A South Korean Internet used posted a screenshot from Google’s Android Device Manager that shows the phone on Sungri Street (승리거리) in Pyongyang. The page says the location accuracy is 75 meters. Curtis Melvin, author of North Korea Economy Watch and authority…

 

Orascom Telecom Media and Technology (OTMT), the Egyptian company that owns a 75 percent stake in North Korea’s on 3G cellular network operator, has apparently been doing very well in the North Korean market. A recent audit report by Deloitte says the company’s assets in North Korea stand at US$512 million, of which $422 million…

 

North Korea’s Koryolink cellular network has hit the 2 million subscriber mark, majority owner Orascom Telecom said this week. The landmark was reached in late May, 15 months after it surpassed the million subscriber mark. Koryolink launched its 3G cellular service in the final days of December 2008 and in the last four years has…