Mobile Prevalence N. Korea
As the number of mobile phone users has reached two million in North Korea, mobile phones have become a basic necessity for living. One of ten North Koreans now has a mobile phone.
According to a research report on mobile phone usage trends in North Korea conducted jointly by Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Kim Yeon-ho, a journalist at the Voice of America (VOA), mobile phone services are provided in Pyongyang and 100 other cities in North Korea. These services cover 14 percent of the geography of North Korea and 94 percent of the total population.
Mobile telecommunication services in North Korea started in November 2002 when Loxley Pacific of Thailand provided 2G GSM services together with Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC) under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of North Korea. Mobile telecommunication services were then suspended when rumors of terror attacks were being spread after the big explosion at Ryoungchon Train Station in April 2004. Services were restarted in December 2008. Koryolink, a joint venture between Egyptian company Global Telecom Holding with 75 percent equity, formerly Orascom Telecom Holding, and KPTC, under the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of North Korea, started 3G services at that time, which have lasted until today.
Orascom announced that the number of its subscribers is two million. Considering that one million soldiers are not allowed to use mobile phones due to security reasons, and three million children under the age of ten are too young to use mobile phones, two million subscribers among 24 million North Koreans means that one out of ten North Koreans uses mobile phone. In Pyongyang, where assets are concentrated, one out five residents is assumed to use a mobile phone.
However, as the average wage of factory workers in North Korea is 3,000 won, it is hard for them to afford the prices of mobile phone devices and the resulting phone bill. So some point out that subscriber numbers are exaggerated. Furthermore, based on per capita GDP in North Korea, this statistics is considered to be unrealistic.
Others claim that Orascom is not likely to exaggerate subscriber information intentionally, as their performance reports are very important in investor relations and tax issues.
The fact that mobile phones are getting very popular in North Korea is clear, though. According to North Korea Tech, a U.S.-based website focusing on recent science and technology news of North Korea, some North Koreans obtained SIM cards for mobile phones while foreigners were visiting North Korea, so that North Koreans could temporarily use international phone calls and the external Internet.
Accordingly, the propagation of mobile phones in North Korea could impose new influences on the North Korean regime.
But since the popularization of mobile phones in North Korea is under strict control, and the regime routinely practices wiretapping, this trend is not likely to lead to a “North Korean Spring,” according to the report.