South Korea ranked first worldwide in terms of the penetration rate of fast broadband Internet, which transmits data at a speed of over 100 Mbps (megabits per second), according to a report by KT Corp. on Tuesday.
About 14.9 percent of South Korea's total population, or 7.58 million people, subscribed to the fast broadband Internet services, KT said, citing a recent survey by market researcher Ovum.
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KT Corp.'s ultra-fast broadband Internet service (Yonhap file photo) |
Singapore came in second with 12.5 percent of its population, or 630,000 people, having the fast broadband service.
That was followed by Japan with 11.6 percent, or 14.69 million, and the United States with 3 percent, or 9.77 million, according to the report.
In South Korea, about 3.4 million people are estimated to have subscribed to ultra-fast broadband Internet services, which transmit data at a speed of 1 Gbps (gigabits per second), KT said.
The ultra-fast broadband Internet is using new fiber optic cables or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network.
Last year, South Korea had the world's highest penetration of FTTH at 28.2 percent, followed by Japan with 21.8 percent, according to data by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The ultra-fast broadband Internet allows users to enjoy high-definition video content and 3-D TVs.
Park Cheol-hong, an analyst at KT's economic research institute, said in the report that the strong infrastructure of ultra-fast Internet services is expected to play a positive role in boosting the media and content businesses. (Yonhap)
