Egypt's Orascom To Launch 3G Mobile-Phone Services In North Korea

December 14, 2008 3:15 p.m. EST

Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding SAE is planning to launch 3G mobile-phone services in North Korea Monday, to become the first foreign telecom company to invest in communist nation as it deals with the economic crisis.

A spokesman of Orascom Telecom, the biggest mobile-phone company in the Middle East, confirmed the news, after the company won North Korea's first mobile phone licence in January.

Under the deal, the company is expected to invest $400 million in network infrastructure over the next three years to expand the country's advanced cellular phone network to increase private phone connections.

"It's a new, untapped market," Teymour El-Derini, a trader in Cairo at Beltone Securities Brokerage, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News.

"If you believe in North Korea, and that it will eventually open up, it's an excellent market for Orascom."

The Egyptian phone company has been experiencing slowdown in its subscriber revenue in the countries including Pakistan and Bangladesh due to current weak credit markets and slumping consumer confidence.

Before Orascom Telecom, the Stalinist state has given licenses to OAO Russian Railways and Emerson Pacific Group to launch their business and operate in the country.

The company said that it has won exclusive rights on Jan. 31 in North Korea for four years. The business in North Korea is expected to generate revenue per user between $12 to $15 in 2008 from three different cities.