South Korea: Gigabit broadband by 2012

It’s another I told you so for Third Pipe. I have stated more than once that the world standard for broadband would be moving to Gigabit in the coming months. South Korea has chimed in with plans to make it a reality by 2012.  If you believe the press, the objectives here in the US are to get to 50 MBPS and extend the reach of broadband to the rural and poor in the next few years. A noble cause, but how will we pay for it if our competitiveness is further hampered by substandard pipes?

The Korea Communications Commission is working on plans that will boost broadband speeds in that country by ten times by the end of 2012. That means Koreans will access of 1 Gbps service by 2012. That’s 200 times as fast as your typical 5 Mbps DSL connection sold in the US. At present, Koreans can get speeds of upto 100 Mbps from their broadband providers. Availability of such high-speed connections has allowed Korea to emerge as a leader in the MMO and online gaming industries. Even higher broadband speeds are going to unveil many new usage-scenarios, which can lead to new company creation. (Gigaom)

Yes, I’ve heard the argument that South Korea is smaller and more urban, making this easier easier and cheaper to do. I’ll add one, they’ve already laid a bunch of fiber that can have capacity added through multiplexing light wavelengths, making it easier and cheaper to do.  While these arguments are valid it’s also true that the available capital, resources, etc is considerably smaller in South Korea,  save one item: The will to do it. It’s that will that laid all of the fiber to begin with.