North Korean Capital to Get a GSM Network

South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported that North Korea is considering setting up a cellular phone network in the country's capital, Pyongyang. The agency's source quoted on condition of anonymity is a senior North Korean official at the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, and he was quoted as saying that a test service will be launched in the Pyongyang area in cooperation with a foreign corporation. The network is expected to go live by September, and possibly as early as August.

Loxley Pacific, which is a joint venture between Loxley, Teltech of Finland and Charungthai of Taiwan is currently building a GSM network in the Rason Economic Zone which is due to go live in July. We were notified by Loxley Pacific last month that the company then plans a nationwide expansion program, so they could be the foreign corporation mentioned by the North Korean official.'"

Posted to the site on 14th May 2002