Stolen from the Qualcomm thread. I do think we are in for a hell of a ride this year.
~~~
Kim stresses speedy 'informatization'
Emphasizing 'informatization,' President Kim Dae-jung's New Year message could be interpreted as reconfirming the government's commitment to transforming Korea into a knowledge-based society, according to Minister of Information & Communication Namgoong Suek.
Immediately after the message, Namgoong said the points stressed by the President will be translated into policy, accelerating the growth of Internet users.
There were 7 million Internet users last year, a figure that is expected to reach 13 million this year and 20 million next year. This portends good news for information providers (IPs), according to the minister, as the content provider sector is the least developed among Internet-related industries.
"I believe the content provider industry will bloom next year if it can weather the difficulties this year," he said.
He based his forecast on IPs reaching break-even point next year, with 20 million people logged on to the Internet. A community of about 100,000 users will mark a break-even point for IPs, according to the minister.
In his message, President Kim said the completion date for a nationwide high-speed Internet network, originally slated for 2010, will be brought forward to 2005. A next generation high-speed Internet service, 1,000 times faster than the present broadband service, will also be developed.
The broadband Internet network will allow a transmission speed of 2Mbps on mobile handsets and 10Mbps for PC users, according to the ministry's blueprint. It will feature a mix of fiber optic cable, asymmetric digital subscriber line (ASDL), cable television modem and satellite communication. It will also include IMT-2000 and broadband wireless local loop (B-WLL) services for high-speed Internet service on the move.
Building the infrastructure for informatization of schools was also included in the New Year message. President Kim said that all primary, middle and high schools will be connected to a high-speed network by the end of the year.
The message also called for all classrooms and teachers to be provided with a free personal computer. The state will support computer education of students in the underprivileged class and bright students will be given free PCs and free Internet service for five years, according to the President's message.
A total of 10,351 schools will be wired to networks and about 433,500 PCs will be provided to schools to ensure a computer training room for each school. About 236,000 PCs will be supplied to equip each teacher with PCs while 200,000 PCs will be provided for classrooms, according to the ministry.
Internet service below 256Kbps will be provided free of charge to schools and teachers, with Korea Telecom and Dacom bearing part of the cost.
The ministry's informatization plan also calls for computer education of soldiers by supplying 27,368 PCs for 6,842 PC rooms located on military bases. Computer education will also be provided on bases starting next year.
Updated: 01/04/2000
by Kim Hoo-ran Staff reporter |
