Orascom Telecom’s North Korean mobile arm, koryolink, achieved 809,000 connections by the end of the third quarter and looks likely to hit one million customers by the end of this year.  Launched in 2008 as the sole mobile network in the secretive country, Orascom claims to have seen “tremendous growth” from the operation, fuelling higher revenues. It has seen a 169 percent increase in subscribers from Q3 2010, and a 125 percent increase in revenue (to US$102.7 million for the nine months to end-September 2011). This revenue growth in turn led to a “tremendous EBITDA increase” (to US$84.8 million for the nine months to end-September 2011).

The network now covers 91 percent of the population and has huge potential for growth; North Korea’s mobile penetration rate stands at just 3 percent.  According to a Reuters report, koryolink is expected to register the 1 millionth user on the 3G network by the end of 2011, “barely four years after people were thrown into prison camps, or possibly even executed, for owning one.”