As local demand for high-speed Internet access rises, Korea Telecom and
two other leading telecommunications service providers are competing
fiercely with each other to preoccupy the rapidly-growing market.
Industry sources said that the number of subscribers for high-speed
Internet
access service in Korea has more than doubled to 135,000 during the
first four
months of this year since 1998’s end due largely to explosive growth of
e-commerce market, coupled with the current boom of online games.
In this connection, competition among the nation three major high-speed
Internet access providers, which also include Hanaro Telecom Inc. and Thrunet Co., are heating up to clinch more subscribers.
Hanaro Telecom, the nation’s second local phone network, sparked the
competition by launching a high-speed Internet access service at the
beginning
of April. The company stresses that users can access the Internet at 100
times
faster than the ordinary dial-up modem.
“We will diversify our service by focusing on customers who want to use
the
high-speed Internet at a lower cost,” said Shin Yun-Sik, president of
Hanaro
Telecom.
The company now offers three different types of high-speed Internet
access
with Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), ISDN and cable TV
network,
thus offering more choice to customers. Hanaro Telecom has secured
nearly
35,000 subscribers in just 10 days since its inauguration of the
high-speed
Internet access service.
Stimulated by such marketing efforts of Hanaro Telecom, Korea Telecom
hurriedly strengthened its service by expanding the capacity of its
international Internet communications backbones by as much as 50%, while
newly introducing ADSL service.
Korea Telecom has secured 11,500 new clients during the month of April,
bringing the total number of its ISDN subscribers to 75,000 as the end
of
April.
The state-run telecommunications giant plans to offer Super Kornet
service, an
ADSL service, which provides users with unlimited access to the
Internet, at a
flat monthly rate of 50,000 won (about US$41.50).
Also, the company is expected to offer high-speed Internet access
service
through the telecommunications satellite, enabling its users to transmit
data
at a speed of 1 Mbps.