North Korea issuing SIM cards to tourists

[inquisitor]

I wonder what North Korea's international IP connectivity is like and if you could ever use up your data allowance. You would need to use a bandwidth of 30 KBit/s for a full month day and night to generate 10GB.

[ChrisNeedsToKnow]

I went to NK in 2011 just to see what it´s like. (PN me if you want to see pictures of the trip)

At the time the group I went with had to surrender their phones on arrival, we got them back on departure.

The travel agency I went with (koryotours) obvisouly goes in frequently, and they managed to actually place a Skype-Video-call from NorthKorea:
Skype Call from Inside North Korea - YouTube

Most interesting trip, but you shouldn´t expect reliable communication at any time. If you need to be available/online you should definitely NOT go!

Rgds, Chrisitan

[Motel75]

When I went there many years ago, "no digital cameras" was a strictly enforced rule. I suppose that means things have improved.

[rfranzq]

That at least two of our members have visited North Korea is rather remarkable.
No wonder obscure questions can get answered here.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by rfranzq

That at least two of our members have visited North Korea is rather remarkable.
No wonder obscure questions can get answered here.

I have a friend who went to North Korea in 1968. He lived there for 11 months and doesn't really care to go back again.

[NFH]

More detailed charges are now listed here.

€0.20/min for incoming calls is a bit unjustified, given that they're no doubt also charging a hefty termination fee to the caller's network.

€0.15 to €0.20 per megabyte is expensive but not prohibitive.

It's interesting that foreigners living in North Korea (mainly diplomats) are subject to much lower charges. However, it doesn't specifically state that the foreigner line is available only to residents.

[inquisitor]

According to recent media reports Orascom cannot recover the returns from its North Korean operations "Koryolink" and therefore has halted all investments in the network:
http://www.telegeography.com/product...n-north-korea/

A German article also comments that conversion of these profits into any foreign currency is an issue as currency exchange is prohibited in North Korea while outside the country there is no market for the North Korean Won. Further to that Koryolink's tax exemption will end on Sunday after which the company will be subject to yet unquantified taxation. In 1H 2013 Koryolink generated $150m in revenues yieding an EBITDA of $ 116m which corresponds to a huge ROS of 78%.
Remarkably in the latest half year report Orascom has valued Koryolink with $464m plus the frozen cash balance worth $366m which has been accounted as "non-current financial assets".

[Motel75]

You would think any company "investing" in North Korea would know that a closed society with fake money that restricts the product you are trying to sell would be a bad investment - especially one whose only export is nuclear bomb technology and primitive armaments. A country that keeps the shipping containers that aid is sent in is not going to let you make a profit once you've spent the money there.

[DRNewcomb]

Originally Posted by inquisitor

A German article also comments that conversion of these profits into any foreign currency is an issue as currency exchange is prohibited in North Korea while outside the country there is no market for the North Korean Won.

They could probably use their NK Won to buy counterfeit $100 bills or wholesale quantities of methamphetamine they could resell for a profit.