North Korea Sees Huge Growth in 3G Users, Now at 2 Million Subscribers

North Korea’s sole 3G mobile telco, KoryoLink, has seen amazing growth in user numbers recently. The NorthKoreaTech blog has spotted that KoryoLink’s 3G user-base has doubled in the past 15 months: going from one million in February 2012 to the newest milestone of two million subscribers.

The new statistic comes from KoryoLink CEO Ezz Heikal, who’s based in Pyongyang. The telco is a joint venture between Egyptian company Orascom and the state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation (KPTC). KoryoLink was started up in late 2008, but usage seems to have only taken off since Kim Jong-un took over as the newest (but not dearest) leader in December 2011.

But, as always with North Korea, there are complications.

North Korean authorities permitted KoryoLink to sell uncensored 3G data packages to foreign businesspeople and longer-term visitors in February of this year. But that was halted a few weeks later. And so you have to wonder how many of KoryoLink’s subscribers are active users – or visitors who now find their service partially cut off.

Note that North Koreans who use KoryoLink’s 3G cannot access the proper internet, and are restricted to the national intranet – plus voice calls and SMS.

Tensions between North Korea and the west remain high, with no sign of a sustained opening up policy that would give North Koreans greater access to things like smartphones. Or food.

(Source: NorthKoreaTech)