According to North Korea Tech Saturday, Ezz Heikal, CEO of Koryolink, said his company has almost 2 million subscribers. Koryolink is North Korea's only 3G service provider.
Orascom Telecom, the company's head office in Cairo, Egypt, later confirmed it, according to North Korea Tech.
Koryolink, established in December 2008, is a joint venture between Orascom and the North Korean communications ministry.
The subscriptions reached one million in February last year. The figure has doubled in less than 15 months.
As of November last year, the 3G mobile service was available in the capital, Pyongyang, 15 large cities and about 100 smaller cities, reports said.
North Korean residents are unable to make international calls or Internet service, despite voice, text message and web browsing service are provided on their phones. They only have access to a very limited, state-run Internet pages, according to BBC.
Foreigners in the country can have a different class of service that allows international connectivity, but shuts off access to most domestic phone lines.
By Keat Min Woo
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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