High-speed ISPs pass 15 million connections

The number of high-speed Internet service users in Korea surpassed the 15 million-mark for the first time in April, according to a government-affiliated commission yesterday. The number of broadband Internet service subscribers in the country stood at 15.03 million as of end of April, up from last month’s figure of 14.97 million, according to Korea Communications Commission. Top fixed line operator KT serves 44.2 percent of the market with 6,648,000 customers, followed by Hanarotelecom and LG Powercomm with 24 percent (3,610,000 customers) and 12.2 percent (1,850,000 customers), respectively. System operators, which provide cable channels and high-speed Internet service, took 17.4 percent with 2.6 million customers. On the surface, the high-speed Internet industry seems to be thriving, but the market is saturated, according to industry insiders. “The rate at which high-speed Internet customers are increasing has slowed down a lot. That’s why Internet service providers are looking for new revenue sources such as Internet telephony and Internet-based protocol TV services,” said Kim Young-wan, of KT’s public relations team. Meanwhile, KT and Hanarotelecom have stopped telemarketing calls due to recent information leaks at Hanarotelecom. After Hanarotelecom’s former management was found to have sold confidential user information to telemarketing businesses, the company said in early May that it will suspend telemarketing to protect customers. KT said it will stop telemarketing until the company comes up with new telemarketing strategies that are more customer-oriented. LG Powercomm, the nation’s smallest broadband operator, is currently telemarketing