Korea’s Mobile Internet Boom

Just as Korea has set the pace in the development of the fixed-line Internet sector, the nation is also leading the world in the wireless Internet segment, according to a government report. The National Internet Development Agency (NIDA) on Thursday said that 40.2 percent of Korean cell phone owners use wireless Internet regularly, up almost 4 percentage points from last year. Broken down by gender, the report showed 41.4 percent of female respondents logged onto the wireless Internet on a regular basis compared to 39.3 percent of males.

The state-funded agency compiled the data by surveying a total of 3,103 mobile subscribers aged more than 12 years old across the nation in September. The usage rate stood at just 27.4 percent back in March 2002, but the figure rose to 32.3 percent six months later and to 36.1 percent halfway through last year. Continue >>