North Korea Telecoms Market Report

North Korea’s telecom sector adopts domestic hardware for LTE network

Following years of isolationism and economic under-achievement, North Korea languishes near the bottom of the world’s telecom maturity index alongside Afghanistan and Turkmenistan (both countries which also struggle under repressive political regimes). To make matters worse, in 2025 North Korea achieved the lowest score in the world for economic freedom. It barely needs saying that developing a healthy and prosperous telecommunications sector is not high on the dictatorship’s agenda.

The obstacles to building a functioning telecom network are so numerous that a fixed-line segment barely exists. Foreign investors have been permitted to partner with the North Korea Post & Telecommunications Corporation (NKPTC) to progress mobile voice, text, and broadband services, albeit on a strictly limited scale and with tight restrictions over what can be accessed. Mobile penetration is estimated to have eased up slightly to reach 28% by the beginning of 2025, yet the high cost of ownership coupled with strict censorship still makes mobile communications largely the domain of senior government officials and diplomats, and the elite.

For those citizens living close to China, it has been possible to obtain Chinese handsets and SIM cards, and to connect to towers (illegally) located across the border. While this offers access to the outside world and at much lower prices than the state-controlled offerings, the high risks include steep fines and the possibility of interrogation and incarceration. The government has cracked down on the availability of devices such as smartwatches (popular status symbols for those few among the young who can afford them) which have not been modified to prevent users being able to access the internet and make international calls.

North Korea has been slightly more effective in building an IT sector and a nascent digital economy on the back of a concerted effort to grow a sizeable, well-trained IT workforce. Yet even here, its capabilities have been directed more towards nefarious activities such as cybercrime, insurance fraud, and hacking into Western countries’ computer systems. North Korea’s determination to put itself offside with the rest of the world in pursuit of its ideology can only lead to tighter controls on communications inside and outside of the country.

One potentially significant change in recent years has been the growing ties with Russia. This does not signify a pivot away from North Korea’s principal ally and benefactor China, but rather an opportunist grab for material assistance. North Korea has financially benefitted from sending military hardware and thousands of troops to support Russia’s continuing assault against Ukraine, while having in turn secured Russia’s technical assistance relating to reconnaissance satellites, hypersonic missiles, and potentially nuclear submarines. While Russia’s commitment to North Korea may be questionable, it may nevertheless offer a useful deterrent in the event of escalating tensions with South Korea.