Naguib Sawiris, an Egyptian telecommunications entrepreneur, jokes that his most recent business plan – a 25-year licence to provide mobile phone services in North Korea – is one born of desperation.

The rationale, explains the chairman of Cairo-based Orascom Telecom, is that the scramble for new markets in the lucrative mobile industry is nearing an end. As he puts it, light-heartedly: “This is my proof to the world that there is nothing else out there. If you need to go all the way to North Korea to make sure there is a requirement, the world is done – finished.”