It was 120 years ago today at Seoul's Deoksu Palace that King Gojong of the Joseon Dynasty announced the establishment of "Ujeongchongguk," the country's first modern postal administration. But the post office was forced to halt services just 18 days after launching operations after its building was burned down during a coup attempt. It was another 10 years before the country printed stamps again.
Despite such an unfortunate beginning, Korea has now developed into one of the most connected countries in the world, carried by the rapid growth of its online and telecommunication sectors. Just nine years after the government announced a 15-year plan to simulate growth for communication and information technology, Korea is setting international standards in related industries backed by a vast domestic market of 29 million Internet subscribers and 35 million cellular phone users.
The rapid expansion of the Internet population has been the drive behind the IT industry's development as among the most technically advanced in the world. Under the 15-year scheme, called "Cyber Korea 21," the government focused its plan on building a solid IT infrastructure by expanding the coverage of broadband Internet access. The government was able to achieve the goal by 2000, with the broadband network extending to 144 regions that cover most of the country. Korea currently has 11 million Internet users with broadband access, representing a household penetration rate of 73 percent that is the highest in the world. KT Corp., the country's largest fixed-line and broadband carrier, earned more than 11 trillion won in revenue last year.
The IT industry has been growing at an annual rate of 16 percent over the past five years, producing an output of 209 trillion won and sending out $57 billion in exports last year. The sector now accounts for 15 percent of GDP and 30 percent of total exports, an impressive growth from 1997 when the sector accounted for just 7.2 percent of GDP.
The Ministry of Information and Communication will focus on promoting next-generation high-tech items to spur exports and implement state-funded IT projects, projecting the information technology sector to achieve 240 trillion won in output and $70 billion in exports for this year. The ministry has earmarked 246.1 billion won for its designated nine growth items including 2.3GHz mobile Internet, digital televisions and home networking, extending support to key software and hardware developers. The ministry projects the nine technology sectors to generate 31 trillion won in output and $12.4 billion in exports this year.
The government also plans to lay down the world's fasted broadband Internet network, a technology called broadband convergence network, that provides connection speeds of 50-100 Mbps, by 2012. The planned network, which runs 50 times faster than the currently used 1.5-2 Mbps connections, is part of government plans to build an environment fit for the industry trend heading toward the convergence age, when the wireless and fixed-line sectors connect over the medium of the Internet.
The telecommunication sector has developed into one of the most profitable and technically advanced industries of the world, thanks to a domestic market where around 75 percent of the population are cell phone users. SK Telecom, which controls 53 percent of all cell phone users, earned 9.5 trillion won in revenue last year.
Korea was the first to commercialize the use of CDMA chipsets in wireless receivers and eventually developed the technology as a world standard. The country was also the first to have an effective third-generation wireless platform, when it started the cdma2000-1x services in 2000 and followed up with cdma2000-1x EV-DO services in 2002, adding another dimension beyond voice communications where cell phone users are provided with image data and Internet connections, among other multimedia features.
With the local wireless market reaching saturation and the fixed-line sector experiencing flat growth, the government plans to develop a new revenue source through convergence concepts. The most notable efforts come in the form of satellite-based mobile broadcasting, or satellite DMB, which is planned to start commercial services in July. The satellite DMB system embodies one of the most advanced receiver technologies of today, with a satellite beaming video and audio signals to handheld receiver devices in vehicles moving at speeds up to 150 kilometers an hour. If the DMB services start out as scheduled, industry insiders believe that the services will garner 6 million subscribers by 2009.
By Kim Tong-hyung
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article-eastasia.asp?parentid=10476
No comments:
Post a Comment