Will the regime come to regret that?
trails its neighbour, and the rest of the world, in technological adoption. But new research suggests that it might be better connected than previously imagined .
Martyn Williams and Natalia Slavney of 38 North, a programme that analyses North Korea and is run by the Stimson Centre think-tank, pored over photographs and satellite images of the country and identified more than 1,000 cell towers. By plotting their locations they were able to map the extent of North Korea’s two mobile networks. Their findings suggest that signal can be found far beyond the major cities and even deep into the countryside.
The researchers also interviewed a number of defectors to figure out the extent of mobile-phone penetration and how the devices are being used. Based on this and previous data, they estimate that there are 6.5m-7m subscriber lines for the country’s almost 26m inhabitants.
The handsets are often mid-level Chinese-made Android phones, similar to those found in pockets around the world. In North Korea they tend to be rebranded and configured by the state to limit their functions. But the networks, the first of which was set up in 2008, use somewhat antiquated 3G technology. South Korea, by contrast, is already working towards a 6G network.
Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s dictator, promised infrastructure improvements to telecoms infrastructure back in January 2021. They are yet to materialise. Perhaps that is unsurprising. Getting hold of the technology to upgrade is tricky. How North Koreans use their phones might also offer some explanation. Mobiles allow ordinary North Koreans to communicate with one another directly, and facilitate interactions among the producers, wholesalers, middlemen and vendors that keep therunning.
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