Pyongyang gets new cell phone network

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-16 08:01

An Egyptian telecom giant launched an advanced mobile phone network in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) yesterday.

Orascom Telecom Chief Executive Naguib Sawiris and DPRK officials celebrated the start of the country's third generation mobile network in the capital Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported in a dispatch from Pyongyang.

Cairo-based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE has been building the network after announcing a $400 million deal in January. The company said on Sunday it was officially launching the third generation mobile service.

Orascom runs networks in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia and has not shied from investing in places considered challenging and politically unpredictable, such as Zimbabwe.

The network will provide phone service and data capability. The KCNA report provided no details on the terms of service or who would be able to utilize it.

Broadcaster APTN showed footage of Orascom's Sawiris cutting a ribbon at a ceremony and later being shown what appeared to be a control center by a DPRK official.

Sawiris said that the company's aim was for a "network that will accommodate the 22 million people" in the DPRK, adding he was "surprised and astonished by the quality" and "advancement of the Korean people," APTN's footage showed.

The DPRK has experimented with cell phones before and has a working mobile phone network, though not as advanced as what Orascom has built.

In 2005, Thailand's then foreign minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon said DPRK officials said they believed mobile phones were used as a tool to gather intelligence by countries hostile to the country.

Orascom has said it intends to cover Pyongyang and most of the country's major cities during the first year of service. Subscriber fees had yet to be announced.

Paik Hak-soon, an expert on the DPRK at the Republic of Korea's Sejong Institute, a policy think tank, said only elites will likely have access to the network, at least in the beginning.

"Government, party, military people are the big beneficiaries," he said.

Traders and people involved in the economy may also be allowed to use it, Paik said.

The DPRK, where Paik estimates per capita gross domestic product is less than $500 a year, has taken some steps to liberalize its economy in recent years and has courted foreign investment.

Orascom said it was the first foreign telecommunications company to be awarded a DPRK commercial telecommunications license and would have exclusive rights for four years.