Broadband development in South Korea: institutional and cultural factors

Abstract

This paper is about the broadband development in South Korea (henceforth Korea). Korea is considered to be a world leader in this field. Based on various sources including a study trip to Seoul that took place in July 2002, the reasons for this success are offered in this paper. The purpose of the study trip was to investigate how Korea achieved such a relatively fast penetration rate in a time span of approximately 4 years. Using documentary secondary data such as, written documents published materials, and primary data, such as interviews, the paper explores and presents the factors contributing to this development. The factors covered include government leadership, fierce competition, low prices due to the competition, cultural aspects, and geographic and demographic aspects. Although some strategies and success factors are Korea specific, there are general lessons that can be drawn. Anyone considering the deployment of broadband and other future innovations will benefit from this investigation into the successful strategies undertaken in Korea.

Keywords:

• broadband
• korea
• government leadership
• competition
• geographic aspects
• demographic aspects

Acknowledgements

We thank the organisations we visited during the mission trip for their hospitality and collaboration in sharing their experiences and knowledge on the Korean Broadband experience. We also thank the mission delegates (Antony Walker, Yung Kim, Dougald Robinson, John Frieslaar, Mike Locke and Alexandra Ho) for their contributions to the report from which this paper is developed. The contributions of the referees and of the editorial team have been most welcome.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jyoti Choudrie

About the authors

Dr. Jyoti Choudrie is a lecturer in the Department of Information Systems and Computing, Brunel University. She obtained her PhD on ‘Investigating Reengineering Teams in the Context of Business Process Change’ from Brunel University. Her current research encompasses the diffusion and adoption of broadband technology, the usability of e-government websites, the impacts of the diffusion of broadband technology on electronic government, the social aspects of information systems, and electronic commerce. She has written for peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Information Technology, Cognition, Technology and Work and has more than 25 papers in academic journals and international conferences on these topics. She has edited a special issue on ‘Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce’ for the Journal of Information Technology with Dr. Heejin Lee. She is a member of the ACM, Association of Information Systems (AIS), and the United Kingdom Association of Information Systems (UKAIS).

Heejin Lee

Dr. Heejin Lee is a lecturer in the Department of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne. He earned his doctorate from the London School of Economics. His research interests include broadband diffusion and temporal impacts of IT. He has edited special issues on ‘Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce’ for the Journal of Information Technology with Dr. Choudrie and ‘Time and IT’ for The Information Society.