heres the cause!...btw, was that samuel beckett?...lol.
Seoul, Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Dacom Corp., Korea's largest Internet service provider, said it will begin a high-speed Internet service, challenging Korea Thrunet Co. and other smaller companies already in the market.
Dacom said it agreed with Korea Electric Power Corp. to begin using its cable network to provide a high-speed service, called Borahomenet, from the beginning of March.
``We are forecasting that we will sign up 1.8 million subscribers by the end of the year,' said Kim Ki Joon, the head of Dacom's Internet division, in a statement.
With more than a third of Korea's 7 million Internet users on its books, Dacom's interest in the high-speed market will challenge Korea's fledgling providers such as Thrunet and Hanaro Telecom Co.
``For the moment we will not be competing directly with other companies in areas where they have exclusive agreements as there are still a lot of uncovered areas,' said Lee Jee Un, a Dacom spokesman. ``But we will be competing strongly in areas without coverage and the unwritten rule of not competing may not last once there is full coverage.'
Dacom, also Korea's second-largest fixed-line telephone service provider, said it signed agreements with 43 local cable television companies to use their cables to carry its service from Kepco's network directly into subscribers' homes.
The trend to connect to the Internet using cable television networks and a rival technology, asynchronous digital subscriber lines, is growing as online providers offer more advanced services.
Downloading music or video files over a cable or ASDL connection, two common uses of the Internet, takes about one-tenth of the time required using a normal modem and telephone line.
Challenge
Dacom's new service announcement comes a week after it lost out to Thrunet in a bid for Nowcom Co., Korea's fourth largest ISP, giving Thrunet a foothold in the narrowband Internet market.
Thrunet, with its business partner Trigem Computer Inc., bought a 61.2 percent stake in Nowcom for 68 billion won, capturing its 1.49 million subscribers.
``Companies like Thrunet and Hanaro were the first into this business and so concentrated on the densely populated areas,' said Suh Yon Won, an analyst at Hyundai Securities in Seoul. ``This means that Dacom is a little late and their strong brand image in the ISP market won't guarantee success in the online service provider market.'
Still, Suh said only 7 million Koreans, out of a population of 46 million, live in areas covered by existing high-speed providers, giving Dacom plenty of potential for expansion.
Hanaro Telecom is the largest high-speed company with 210,000 subscribers. Thrunet is second with around 110,000 users and Dreamline Corp. is the third largest with about 25,000 subscribers.
While the high speed Internet access market is small in comparison with the more than 7 million narrowband users, it's growing quickly. High-speed providers estimate they've got an additional 80,000 subscribers signed up, prepared to wait up to three months for a connection.
Dacom shares fell 5.1 percent to 263,000 won. Still, the stock is up 350 percent in the last 12 months compared with a 66.7 percent gain by the benchmark Kospi index. |
