International Telecommunication Union
Ubiquitous Network
Societies
Case Study of the
Republic of Korea
Dr Tim Kelly
Head, Strategy & Policy Unit,
International
Telecommunication Union
(ITU)
New Initiatives Workshop on
Ubiquitous Networks
Societies
Geneva, Switzerland
6-8 April 2005
1
The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of the ITU or its Membership. Dr Tim Kelly can be contacted at tim.kelly@itu.int.
Broadband per 100, Korea (Rep.)
HK, China
Top 20, 1 Jan 2005 Netherlands
z Korea is (still) #1 worldwide
in broadband penetration
z Around 80% of homes
subscribe to broadband
z Korea has benefited from
platform competition:
¾
¾
¾
¾
24.9
20.9
19.4
19.3
17.6
17.0
16.3
16.0
15.5
15.1
15.0
14.3
14.1
Overall
12.8 broadband
11.6 penetration
rate
11.4
DSL
11.2
10.3
Cable
10.1
Modems
and Other
8.5
Denmark
Canada
Switzerland
Taiwan, China
DSL technologies
Cable Modem
Appartment LANs
Wireless LANs, satellite etc
z Very low price per (e.g.,
<US$25 per month for
2Mbit/s)
Note: Figures used in slide do NOT include wireless broadband (e.g., 3G).
Source: ITU World Telecom Indicators Database.
Belgium
Iceland
Sweden
Norway
Israel
Japan
Finland
Singapore
USA
France
UK
Austria
Portugal
-
5
10
15 20
25
30
Korea is also a world leader in 3G mobile
HK, China,
0.7%
UK, 3.7%
CDMA 1xEV-DO subscribers
Other
WCDMA,
2.0%
Italy, 6.7%
Japan,
31.8%
W-CDMA
subscribers
z By June 2004, there were
around 35m mobile
handsets, of which:
Korea
1xEV-DO,
53.7%
Other
Korea, W-CDMA
EVDO,
0.3%
1.0%
¾ 22m CDMA 1x
¾ 8m CDMA 1x EVDO
CDMA 1x subscribers
Korea,
21.8%
Estimated total at 30 June 2004 = 14.9 million
z In addition to CDMA
2000, W-CDMA and
WiBro have been
licensed
z Also >360’000 WLAN
subscribers at end 2003
Rest of the
world,
63.9%
Japan,
14.3%
Estimated total at 30 June 2004 = 103 million
Korea’s unique public/private cooperation
Prepare for ubiquitous network
society: improve competitiveness
Maximise ability of all citizens
to use ICTs
Vision of a creative knowledgebased society
IT 839 Strategy
(2004-07)
E-Korea Vision 2006
(2002-2006)
CYBER KOREA 21
(1999-2002)
Ten priority areas
Annual action plans
National Framework Plan for
Informatization Promotion
(1996-2000)
National information
superhighway
Korea Information Infrastructure
Initiative (1995-2005)
Administration, defence, public
security, finance & education
Focus on manufacturing
National Basic Information System
(1987 – 1996)
Measures to nurture IT Industry
(1987 – 1985)
International Telecommunication Union
Korea’s IT 839 Strategy
8 services
WiBro Service
DMB Service
Home Networking
Telematics Service
RFID based
W-CDMA Service
Terrest. Digital TV
VoIP
5
Source: MIC Korea.
3 infrastructures
Broadband
Convergence
Network (BcN)
Ubiquitous Sensor
Network (USN)
Next-Generation
Internet Protocol
(IPv6)
9 new growth engines
Next-Generation Mobile
Communications
Digital TV
Home Networking
IT System on Chip
Next-Generation PC
Embedded Software
Digital Contents
Telematics
Intelligent Service Robot
Licensing WiBro
z Licensees:
¾ KT
¾ Hanaro
¾ SKT
Frequency:
Licenses:
2.3 GHz
3 awarded (Feb 2005)
Bandwidth
Per user:
1-2 Mbit/s
Total:
100 MHz
Maximum accessible speed for users:
Practical:
60 km/hour
Theoretical:
250 km/hour
Pricing estimates
Monthly unlimited use: Flat rate, est. 15 USD
Source: MIC Korea.
International Telecommunication Union
Selected examples of ubiquitous
networks in Korea
z Digital TV delivered to mobiles
¾ DMB service
z Mobile handsets used as wallets
¾ “Moneta” service
z Telematics (automobile/mobile)
¾ “Nate Drive”
z Avatars in gaming
¾ Fashion wardrobes for avatars
z Self-adaptive telephones that find the
cheapest networks
7
¾ “Nespot SWING”, “One-Phone DU”
International Telecommunication Union
Conclusions
z Korea as a laboratory of the
future
¾ ~ Three years ahead of Europe in
broadband
¾ ~ Two years ahead of Europe in
3G mobile
z Korea as an example of
public/private policy
partnership
Source: ITU
World
Telecom
Indicators
Database.
¾ Strategy of picking technological
winners
¾ Gov’t reinvestment of profits
from spectrum auctions
z Korea creating new revenue
8
¾ Twice the global rate of growth in
telecom spend as % of GDP
5.0%
4.5%
Korea (Rep.)
4.0%
3.5%
3.0%
2.5%
World
2.0%
1.5%
1.0%
1992
2002
Telecoms revenue as a %
of GDP
International Telecommunication Union
Thank you
The full case study (50pp) is available at
http://www.itu.int/ubiquitous
Tim Kelly
Tim.kelly@itu.int
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