North Korea has apparently banned the use of mobile phones, according to international news reports. Details on the secretive country’s ban were unclear.
The country banned the use of mobile phones in late May, according to reports quoting a North Korean official in the country’s capital of Pyongyang. The ban may be due to the deadly train explosion in the country in April, which North Korean officials have said was triggered by a mobile phone. Mobile phones have been used to trigger explosions in other attacks across the world.
GSM mobile phones were introduced in North Korea in 2002, according to a detailed research report from international telecommunications research company Paul Budde Communications Pty Ltd. After South Korea refused to help the country launch mobile-phone services, North Korea’s state-owned Korean Post and Telecommunications department set up a joint venture with Thailand-based Loxley Pacific called the Northeast Asia Telephone & Telecommunications. The joint venture was to build a GSM wireless network in the country’s capital and surrounding areas. According to Paul Budde, the services were available to select North Korean officials by November 2002. By the middle of last year, the country counted 40 base stations and about 1,000 users. North Korea has a total population of about 22.5 million people.
Loxley Pacific was not immediately available for comment.
In contrast, South Korea counts 35 million wireless subscribers and a 75-percent wireless penetration rate, according to Paul Budde. The country uses the CDMA wireless protocol.
