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South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, telecommunications services improved dramatically in the 1980s with the assistance of foreign partners and as a result of the development of the electronics industry. The number of telephones in use in 1987 reached 9.2 million, a considerable increase from 1980, when there were 2.8 million subscribers (which, in turn, was four times the number of subscribers in 1972). Radio, and in more recent years television, reached virtually every resident. By 1945 there were about 60,000 radio sets in the country. By 1987 there were approximately 42 million radio receivers in use, and more than 100 radio stations were broadcasting. Transistor radios and television sets have made their way to the most remote rural areas. Television sets, now mass-produced in South Korea, became far less expensive; most city people and a significant number of rural families owned or had access to a television. Ownership of television sets grew from 25,000 sets when broadcasting was initiated in 1961 to an estimated 8.6 million sets in 1987, and more than 250 television stations were broadcasting.


Telephone

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Telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
s - main lines in use: 26.6 million (2004) * Telephones - mobile cellular: 58.0 million (2015.7) * Telephone system: ** general assessment: excellent domestic and international services ** domestic: NA ** international: country code - 82; 10 fiber-optic submarine cables - 1 Korea-Russia-Japan, 1 Korea-Japan-Hong Kong, 3 Korea-Japan-China, 1 Korea-Japan-China-Europe, 1 Korea-Japan-China-US-Taiwan, 1 Korea-Japan-China, 1 Korea-Japan-Hong Kong-Taiwan, 1 Korea-Japan; satellite earth stations - 3
Intelsat Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...
(1 Pacific Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean) and 3 Inmarsat (1 Pacific Ocean and 2 Indian Ocean)


Mobile phone

There are three mobile phone service providers:
SK Telecom SK Telecom Co., Ltd. ( or ) is a South Korean wireless telecommunications operator and former film distributor and is part of the SK Group, one of the country's largest chaebols. It leads the local market with 50.5 percent share as of 2008. S ...
, KT and
LG Uplus , native_name_lang = ko , romanized_name = , former type = , type = Public , traded_as = , industry = Telecommunications , genre = , fate = , predecessor = LG Telecom , successor = , foundation = , founder = , defunct = , lo ...
.


Radio

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Radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...
stations: AM 61, FM 150,
shortwave Shortwave radio is radio transmission using shortwave (SW) radio frequencies. There is no official definition of the band, but the range always includes all of the high frequency band (HF), which extends from 3 to 30 MHz (100 to 10 me ...
2 (2005)


Television

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Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
broadcast stations: terrestrial stations 43; cable operators 59; relay cable operators 190 (2005). As of 2022, 255 channels are broadcast on B tv basis. South Korea has seven national terrestrial television networks from four broadcaster;
KBS 1TV The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
,
KBS 2TV The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
,
KBS NEWS D The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
, MBC TV,
SBS TV SBS may refer to: Broadcasting * SBS Broadcasting Group, Belgium, formerly many countries * Talpa TV, formerly SBS Broadcasting B.V., Netherlands ** SBS6, Dutch television channel ** SBS9, Dutch television channel * Special Broadcasting Service ...
,
EBS 1TV Korea Educational Broadcasting System () or EBS is a South Korean educational public broadcaster and radio network covering South Korean territory, and the only major South Korean radio and television network without a separate regional service ...
, and
EBS 2TV Korea Educational Broadcasting System () or EBS is a South Korean educational public broadcaster and radio network covering South Korean territory, and the only major South Korean radio and television network without a separate regional service ...
. All terrestrial channels are digital (
ATSC Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an American set of standards for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like that ...
) since January 2013.
KBS NEWS D The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...
, a terrestrial MMS channel that opened before and after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, is the latest broadcasting station to open. From November 2011, four
generalist channel A generalist channel is a television or radio channel whose target audience is not confined to a particular set of people, but instead aims to offer a wide range of programs and program genres to a diverse general public. In radio, this is sometime ...
are available on
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broa ...
;
TV CHOSUN TV Chosun ( ko, TV조선; Hanja: 株式會社朝鮮放送; ''Jusikhoesa Joseon Bangsong''; literally "Company Korea Broadcasting"), stylised as TV CHOSUN, is a South Korean pay television network and broadcasting company, owned by the ''Chosun ...
,
JTBC JTBC (shortened from ''Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company'' (; stylized as jtbc) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on 1 December 2011. JTBC ...
, Channel A, and MBN.


Internet

* Internet hosts: 7.4 million *
Internet users The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
: 43.9 million (Total population: 50 million (July 2012 est.) *
Country code Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes (geocodes) developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The term '' ...
(Top-level domain): KR


IT and Broadband Development

Today, South Korea has the highest number of broadband users. The rapid growth of the Korean broadband market was the result of a combination of government pushes and market factors. The government was active in promoting privatization and deregulation in general, and the information technology (IT) sector was no exception. The government implemented structural reforms in July 1990. Since the mid-1990s, the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) has pursued a policy of high-speed telecommunication infrastructure as a foundation to build a “knowledge-based society.” In the telecommunications sector, competition was allowed on an incremental basis and, in the market for value added services, full competition was allowed. In March 1995, Korea Information Infrastructure (KII) was established. KII's goal was to advance the nation's IT infrastructure. In August 1995, the Framework Act on Information Promotion was enacted. The country then experienced economic crisis in 1997 with the rest of the region. During the economic reforms being implemented after the financial crisis, the information technology (IT) sector was one of several that was targeted and considered to be an important factor in the recovery of the nation's economy. In 1999, the government implemented the program known as Cyber Korea 21, which was intended to accelerate IT development. In 1999, the government provided US$77 million in loans with preferential rates to facilities service providers (FSP). In 2000, another US$77 million was provided in loans for suburban areas, small cities and towns, and regional industrial areas. Another US$926 million was provided until 2005 in order to supply the rural areas with broadband. Commensurate with its investment funding, the government implemented various policies designed to increase internet use among the general population. The government provided “internet literacy” lessons to homemakers, the elderly, military personnel, and farmers. In June 2000, the government implemented what was known as the “Ten Million People Internet Education” project, the purpose of which was to provide internet education to ten million people. The number of broadband subscribers in Korea reached 10 million in October 2002, with about 70% out of 14.3 million homes connected at the speed of over 2 Mbit/s. In 2002, there were six operators providing broadband services in Korea. The market share leader was Korea Telecom (KT), with approximately 45.8% market share (4.5 million subscribers), followed by Hanaro Telecom with approximately 28.6% of the market and Thrunet with approximately 13.1%. of the market. In terms of technology, KT primarily uses Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). Hanaro uses a mix of cable and DSL. Thrunet service is mainly provided through cable modem. At end of June 2011, subscribers of
Voice over Internet Protocol Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
(VoIP) service achieve 10.1 million or around 20 percent of South Korea's population. This article relied on information from: Yun, Kyounglim, Heejin Lee and So-Hye Lim, The Growth of Broadband Internet Connections in South Korea: Contributing Factors, Asia/Pacific Research Center,
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(September 2002). Choudrie, Jyoti and Heejin Lee, Broadband Development in South Korea: Institutional and Cultural Factors, European Journal of Information Systems v. 13, pp. 103–14 (2004).


See also

* Korean telephone numbering plan *
List of South Korean broadcasting networks In South Korea, there are a number of national television networks, the three largest of which are KBS, MBC, and SBS. Most of the major television studios are located on Yeouido and Sangam-dong, Seoul. South Korea became the fourth adopter i ...
* Ministry of Information and Communication


References

* *{{CIA World Factbook