Orascom Telecom chairman in N. Korea: KCNA

SEOUL, Dec. 15 (Yonhap) -- The chairman of Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding, the Islamic world's largest mobile phone service provider, visited North Korea, the communist nation's state media said Monday.

"A delegation from Orascom Telecom Holding of Egypt, headed by its Chairman and
CEO Naguib Sawiris, arrived here by air on Monday," the North's Korean Central
News Agency (KCNA) said in a short dispatch from Pyongyang.
The media did not disclose the purpose of Sawiris' visit, but it appears to be
related to the company's reported plan to launch mobile phone services in the
reclusive nation starting the same day.
Orascom Telecom spokeswoman Rasha Mohamed was quoted by the Associated Press as
saying that the service would be launched on Monday.
Under the terms of the deal reached in January, Orascom will invest $400 million
in network infrastructure over the first three years to develop an advanced
cellular phone network in the capital Pyongyang and other major cities in the
country, the report said.
It was not clear what restrictions, if any, would be imposed on the network since
Pyongyang strictly controls information sources and Internet access, according to
the report.