North Korea's sole mobile operator Koryolink now has 2.4 million subscribers.
The company hit the 2.4 million subscriber milestone at the end of June, North Korea Techreported, citing figures from Koryolink's parent company Orascom Telecom.
Orascom has not published subscriber data for Koryolink since May last year, when the total customer base reached 2 million. Koryolink hit the 1 million customer mark in early 2012.
Koryolink is only allowed to offer domestic calling, SMS/MMS and a tightly-controlled intranet service to its local customers. The prices are also outside the range of many locals outside the capital city.
International visitors are allowed unrestricted access to the internet and can make international calls. But the government reportedly recently ordered Koryolink to deactivate tourist SIMs once the visitor leaves the country, to close a loophole that had allowed some locals to make use of the unlocked SIMs.
Tech In Asia notes that shops in China near the North Korean border have started selling handsets compatible with Koryolink's network, but using them requires North Koreans to bribe border guards to allow the phones across and then bribe officials to have the phones registered on the network.