By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
More North Koreans are using a cellular phone service provided by an Egyptian company last December, according to the Radio Free Asia (RFA) Tuesday.
As people in Pyongyang and the provinces begin to use the phones, North Korean authorities are strengthening controls over the service in a bid to prevent information leakage, the station reported.
The telecommunication service was initially limited to some rich traders in the capital city and top government officials only.
``At first, a mobile phone was distributed to government officials for $200. So, ordinary people could not use the service even if they could afford it. But now, they are using phones, promising not to spill secrets,'' a Chinese representative who visits the secretive state was quoted as saying.
North Koreans can subscribe to the service after they complete an identification process and pay $350 at a post office, he added.
The money includes a subscription fee and a phone.
Egypt's Orascom Telecom built the 3G wireless network last month, which will accommodate about 22 million people, according to North Korean media reports.
It originally planned to provide the service in Pyongyang and then other regions, but saw a low subscription rate since Pyongyang restricted usage.
Quoting a North Korean defector, the RFA reported that the isolated country began by allowing only military units and people in provinces to subscribe to the mobile phone service.
Telecommunication facilities were already provided to provincial cities such as Pyeongseong and Nampo as and when necessary, with the central government's permission required to enable usage, it said.
Meanwhile, the Stalinist state has started to reinforce regulations governing the phones in order to prevent a leakage of information.
Pyongyang pressures government officials not to let out a secret via a mobile phone and keeps wiretappers at base stations, the radio reported.
North Korea has restricted Internet access and mobile phone service since 2004 when an explosion at Ryongchon railway station near the country's border with China killed more than 150 people and injured nearly 1,300.
The North's security agency believes a mobile phone was used as a detonator, since a splinter from a mobile device fixed with adhesive tape was found at the scene. Regulations were eased gradually last year.