Korea's High-Speed Net User-base Snowballs
By Michael Kim
Korea Correspondent, asia.internet.com
[January 3, 2000--SEOUL] According to Korea's Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), high-speed Internet access service is rapidly gaining popularity.
The MIC says that the number of high-speed users increased nearly ten-fold last year to 562,159 from last year's 52,378.
The categories break down into 216,532 users through ISDN, 182,244 through cable TV network and 163,383 ADSL users.
In December, high-speed service providers attracted some 84,000 new subscribers, an increase rate of 17.7% from the previous month which was largely attributed to the marketing efforts of Hanaro Telecom, the industry leader.
Hanaro Telecom secured about 40,000 new subscribers in December by strengthening its marketing network and appointing nearly 1,500 sales partners throughout the nation.
The MIC anticipates that the number of high-speed Internet access subscribers may exceed 2 million by the end of next year.
Currently, the nation's three major service providers - Hanaro Telecom,Korea Telecom and Thrunet - have been competing with each other for the rapidly-growing market.
Of the three, Hanaro Telecom has been leading the market with a 40.1% market share, running ahead of its arch rival Korea Telecom's 29%.
Said an industry source: "Next year, the market will see tougher competition among local service providers because some ISPs, including Dacom, Onse Telecom and SK Telecom, are ready to enter the market."
According to company officials, SK Telecom, which began offering high-speed Internet access service in early December through a cable TV network('Dream Netsgo', at a maximum speed of 10Mbps), plans to secure 100,000 subscribers next year by forging alliances with 77 local cable TV businesses throughout the nation,.
As the demand for high-speed Internet service increases, ISPs are creating new value-added online services focused mainly on the development of multimedia content.
Recently, Hanaro established a cyber college in collaboration with five domestic universities, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University, and offer's online lectures at 450,000 won ( US$380).
Also, both Korea Telecom and Hanaro joined forces with KBS and SBS to offer TV services to its subscribers. |
