The Republic Korea: Country Profile

Located in North East Asia, the Republic of Korea is the largest of the so-called “Four Tigers” (i.e., Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Taiwan, China). Its population stood at 46.6 million at mid-2002. The other tigers all have a higher per capita income than the Republic of Korea’s USD 9400 in 2001 (as do 50 other nations). Han-gul, the main language, has its own alphabet and uses a pictographic font. Normally these factors — large population, relatively low per capita income, non-usage of a major world language and a non-Roman alphabet — work against elevated Internet adoption. But surprisingly, the Republic of Korea has the highest Internet penetration in Asia and the highest broadband Internet penetration in the world (see Figure 1). What are the reasons for this success?

Education. The country’s level of literacy (98 per cent) and school enrolment rate (90 per cent) are high. These are prerequisites for widespread adoption of information and communication technologies (ICT). Some 95 per cent of students in the country use the Internet, as do 97 per cent of those with a college degree.

Metropolitan topography. Some 80 per cent of the country’s population lives in urban areas. Apartments provide dwelling for 40 per cent of its population. The average distance of a customer from a telephone exchange is 2.2 km with 95 per cent of customers within four kilometres, the target range of high speed Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology.

Competition. At year-end 2001, there were seven companies providing broadband Internet access service. Competition among broadband technologies has also grown the market through greater choice and lower pricing. ADSL is readily available to the 90 per cent of households with a fixed tele-phone line. Unlimited monthly ADSL access, with download speeds of 8 Mbit/s, is around USD 25 per month. Cable television provides 57 per cent of homes with another broadband option through cable modem. Other broadband options include fixed and wireless local area networks, broadband wireless local loop, satellite- delivered solutions and mobile Internet.

Government support. The government has facilitated broadband development through an early commitment to high-speed infrastructure with specific programmes. This has included low interest loans and a certification programme that grades apartment complexes according to the access speed they provide tenants with.

Equipment industry. The country’s large ICT manufacturing sector has been an advantage with local suppliers eager to get into the broadband market. This has minimized shortages and helped keep equipment prices low.

The impact of broadband Internet access and growth of IP-related services is impacting the technical evolution of the country’s fixed telephone network. By June 2002, there were some 9.2 million subscribers with a broadband connection. There is now a need to offer subscribers increasingly higher degrees of bandwidth by locating fibre-optic cable closer and closer to the end-user. Korea Telecom plans to offer Very high bit rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) services (at up to 26 Mbit/s) and move aggressively into fibre-to-the-home by 2005 (i.e., replace copper lines with fibre). It forecasts some 5.6 million broadband subscribers of its own by 2003 (out of a nationwide total of 11.9 million).

Mobile communication developments have also proved successful in the country, which today has one of the highest levels of mobile penetration in the world. Its mobile Internet penetration is also impressively high (see Figure 2). The country was slow to introduce digital services, but when it did so, it opted for the CDMA standard. It launched its third generation mobile network in October 2000 with CDMA 1x mobile data services, and IMT-2000 services were licensed in December 2000 for launch in 2003. As of mid-2002, the recorded number of mobile data users was around 10 million.

The Republic of Korea is one of the countries participating in the ITU Internet Case Studies (see www.itu.int/ict/cs/) through its Ministry of Information and Communication.