Selama ini baru pejabat Korea Utara menikmati jasa ponsel

Korea Utara memiliki jaringan telepon seluler berteknologi tinggi pertama di negara itu dengan bantuan perusahaan telekomunikasi Mesir. Orascom mengatakan, perusahaan tersebut menanamkan modal $400m untuk layanan tersebut. Namun, seperti dilaporkan wartawan BBC Steve Jackson, masih belum jelas konsumen yang akan memanfaatkan jasa ponsel tersebut:

Dengar ceritanya

Orascom Telecom is one of the biggest operators of mobile phone networks in the Middle East and Africa. But eyebrows were raised when it said it was planning a joint venture with North Korea to set up a third generation mobile network there. However, the system has now been launched in the capital, Pyongyang, by Orascom's billionaire chief executive Naguib Sawiris.

North Korea opened its own basic mobile network in 2002, but banned the vast majority of its citizens and most foreigners from using it, allowing access only to senior government officials.

The new network will be able to provide fast internet connections and handle large quantities of information. But that is a commodity the North Korean authorities have been extremely anxious to restrict. Radios and televisions sold there have their tuning controls fixed to official stations, and making phone calls out of North Korea is impossible for ordinary citizens.

Some reports suggest that handsets for the new network will cost around seven-hundred dollars each, making them far too expensive for the vast majority of people in a country where millions struggle to find enough food to eat.

Steve Jackson, BBC

Dengar kata-katanya

eyebrows were raised
banyak orang kaget

a joint venture
usaha patungan, perusahaan patungan tempat dua perusahaan atau lebih ikut serta, menanggung modal awal, dan berbagai risiko dan keuntungan (sering kali perusahaan atau organisasi yang terlibat berasal dari negara berlainan)

launched
meluncurkan, meresmikan

allowing access
memberi peluang untuk menggunakannya, menyediakannya

handle
mengolah, menangani, menyalurkan

a commodity
komoditas, apa saja yang bisa diperjual-belikan (di sini, jasa atau layanan)

extremely anxious to restrict
sangat ingin, atau ingin sekali membatasi

have their tuning controls fixed to
tidak bisa diubah-ubah, hanya bisa digunakan untuk saluran tertentu

handsets
pesawat telepon, bagian dari pesawat telepon yang digenggam dan digunakan untuk berbicara dan mendengar

struggle
mengalami kesulitan untuk mencapai sesuatu