South Korea - the ordinariness of 100 Mbps

Koreans take 100Mbps broadband for granted

World's fastest internet now perceived as 'ordinary'

The majority of South Koreans rate their broadband services as 'ordinary' despite having the world's fastest internet connections, according to a recent survey.

Korean broadband providers typically offer speeds of 100Mbps. However, the government-sponsored Korean Communications Commission (KCC) found that no service provider consistently provides this level of service.

The fastest '100Mbps' service was delivered by LG Powercomm with an average speed of 91Mbps, the KCC found.

The average speed of all 100Mbps service providers is just 46Mbps, but this compares to typical average broadband speeds of well below 10Mbps in most other countries.

Seven service providers offer high-speed broadband services in Korea to more than 15 million subscribers.

Korea Telecom controls 44.2 per cent of the market, followed by Hanarotelecom with 24 per cent and LG Powercomm with 12.2 per cent.

"By giving quality information to internet users, we expect customers to have more information when they choose products," said KCC representative Lee Eun-hee, according to the Joongang Daily.

"This encourages service providers to compete against one another to improve the overall quality of such products."

Kim Young-wan of Korea Telecom added: "The rate at which high-speed internet customers are increasing has slowed down a lot.

"That is why internet service providers are looking for new revenue sources such as internet telephony and IPTV services."