Vietnam’s largest telecom company continues to be interested in entering the North Korean cellular phone network market, the company’s CEO and President said an interview with Reuters on Friday.

“We first sought permission from North Korea to build a mobile network there in 2010,” Viettel’s Le Dang Dung said.

“But we’re still waiting for sanctions to be lifted and for the country to open its market to foreign investors,” he added.

Currently, the Egypt-based Orascom Investment Holding (OIH) is the only foreign business to operate in the DPRK cell network environment, having received an exemption from the United Nations (UN) last September