Page IV: Connection speeds that Australians can only dream of are readily available to South Korean consumers and businesses -- thanks to government support for a massive infrastructure rollout.
The competition has driven down prices and boosted access speeds quickly. Having reached the limit on those approaches, they're now competing on customer service. Hanaro recently offered a PC help service that diagnoses computer glitches remotely over a broadband connection, and it promises to send a technician out to help if the problem can't be fixed that way.
"Once they hit about 20mpbs, they're not in as big a rush to put out faster and faster speeds," ITU's Reynolds said. "Now they're working on more services that come along with the access. They can't keep selling on speed, but the competition is so cut-throat that they are moving to great customer service."
So successful has South Korea's experiment been that it is even exporting its expertise. Several companies are marketing consulting services and equipment to Russia and Southeast Asia.
Whether that advice will make its way to the United States remains an open question. Both President Bush and likely Democratic challenger John Kerry have called for ubiquitous broadband access, but neither has expressed goals anywhere near as ambitious as South Korea's.
Nevertheless, natural market forces seem to be pushing the US industry in a similar direction. Competition between cable modems and DSL, even as muted as it is in many places, has helped drive down DSL prices and boost speeds offered by cable companies. A first generation of rivals that used the DSL lines have largely vanished, but new competition could be offered in a few years by wireless, power line and satellite broadband companies.
"The presence of those competing technologies will drive things forward," said Floyd Kvamme, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist who co-chairs the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. "If (broadband) is worthwhile, competition will drive it into anyone's home who really wants it."
CNET News.com's Michael Kanellos reported from Seoul and John Borland from San Francisco.
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