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South Korea Plans National 100 Mbps Network
prostoalex writes "Korean Ministry of Information and Communication is planning to wire the entire country with high-speed 50-100 Mbps network. A total of $80.4 billion will be spent on the project that's expected to be completed in 2010."
You mean when "high speed" isn't high anymore?
Don't quote me on this.
If there is a wired rollout, there would probably already be tons of dark fiber between all central exchanges. Why not just wire them onwards to consumers' homes?
This give better speeds to your neighbour (which is always the nearest "mirror"), and have CableTV, Voice and Data services all integrated onto the same little strand of glass | plastic that comes to my house.
US is now divided as the "Red" and "blue" states. Red States = communist countries. Coincidence? I think not
If you think about it, that's about $2000 per Korean, perhaps $6000 per household for high speed internet access, which won't be complete for 7 years. Are they really getting a good deal?
This is an interesting approach to infrastructure. Now, the next question: how will this approach affect Korea's economic development? What types of businesses will get located in Korea specifically to because of the ubiquitous availability of this type of infrastructure? How will the universal availability of broadband affect Korea's land use of development patterns? Will folks still commute via cars? Will factories start to become remote controlled?
I know it sounds like a lot now, with 1.5 to 3 Mbps being the closer to the norm for broadband here, but if you're going to build an infrastructure for an entire country by 2010, why not build with the latest technologies? 1Gbps isn't exactly ground-breaking any more.
;-)
Although, I suppose they've thought of this, and will lay fiber capable of much faster speeds, and just get cheap equipment rated for 50 to 100 Mbps. And I suppose 1+ Gbps EQ will be mcuh cheaper in 10 years..
As I think it out, perhaps they're smarter than I thought
I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous...
If you look at the numbers their complete budget for 2000 was only $95.7 billion. Assuming it starts now & ends on time, without any cost overruns, we're looking at something like 12% of the government's spending going towards this project.
That's some commitment to closing the 'digital divide'. Well, as long as they make reasonably affordable computers available to their citizens when this thing goes live.
my sig's at the bottom of the page.
An idiot who knows the difference between a LAN and a WAN.
I wonder if the US will be in charge of their Network security as well as their national security ;-)
I can't believe they couldn't find a better use for all that money. High speed internet shouldn't be something that is critical in a nation that still needs much development in basic infastructure. For that much money in the US we could do so much it is beyond most people's comprehension.
The only justification I see this having is the 370,000 new jobs, but how temporary are those jobs. Will most of them disapear after the system is put up and there is nothing left to build let alone money to build it with. To learn more about what we in the US could do with $80 billion(around what is being spent in Iraq go here
If we need it for such basic things I would think a less developed county would need it even more.
We have the freedom of choice, we dont have to wait for our government to decide how fast we should access our networks
Instead, we wait for the local phone company.
That's a great misconception. Quantity does not always equal quality. They are competitive, but overall, no better than Europeans or gamers from other Asian countries. WCG has them at #3 in the final medal tally.
As for the topic at hand, good for S.Koreans. It's nice to see a nation thinking forward and wiring it's population with a forward thinking attitude. The government has its finger on technology's pulse. Unlike in US, where we still have anti-competitive carriers/ISPs monopolizing regions and not getting reprimanded for it. We, as Americans, are behind the progress curve, in terms of broadband connectivity. There is a huge chunk of population still using 56k modems. I mean, Christ. Broadband should be a cheap commodity and a requirement in every house.
While Asia, Europe and other continents are focusing on the future and doing something about it, our politicians are dicking around with special interests and not thinking of the implications 10 years down the line.
South Korea: Lets build a grid and give every citizen access to broadband.
United States: Let companies decide instead of the consumers. Profit comes first.
South Korea: Technology is the future. Internet access is a basic human right.
United States: Intellectual Property is being violated, lets greenlight tyrants like **AA to set the agenda. MP3 Downloading has to stop.
South Korea: Open Source in Government? Lets keep our options open.
United States: Let Microsoft get away with everything, as long as they contribute to political campaigns.
As you can see, we'll be still arguing about having pioneered the Internet and other technologies in irrelevancy, while other nations surpass ours and make the rules.
How about upgrading their military, so that their country is no longer `occupied' by the US?
Or how about using it on their lagging economy, which is one of the worst in the Asia-Pacific?
No, a superficial PR campaign to prove how modern they are, of course, how stupid of me.
Your $30/month DS1-or-better speed xDSL line doesn't come close to paying your ISP's cost for that much bandwidth. Instead, you're sharing bandwidth with everyone else, under the assumption that not everyone max out at the same time. If you don't like sharing, I'm sure your ISP will gladly sell you a T1 just as soon as you pony up the cash and sign a 1 to 3 year contract on the loop. Otherwise, make sure the caps are stated up front, shop around for the most lenient provider, and get used to it.
This has nothing to do with letting industry cripple anything. It's simple economics. If it weren't for bandwidth caps, you'd be on a slow line, your ISP (who pays the full price for bandwidth whether it's used or not) would be throwing cash down the toilet, and we'd all be wasting bandwidth.
As long as we American remain blinded to the possibility that government is good for something, we're going to remain forever a society of technological haves and have nots just like they have in the third world nations.
Also, this country pays $400,000,000,000 dollars each and every year for the military. That's over 20% of our annual budget. And after the Iraq war this year, it's probably closer to $600,000,000,000. It's quite astonishing to me that there is absolutely zero national debate about the size of our budget. We could have this entire country wired up in no time if are priorities were straight.
---Technology will liberate us if it doesn't enslave us first.
the gov't is subsidizing this much the way our gov't subsidizes roads, and gives tax breaks to companies to lay fiber optics in rural areas etc.
We can have all of the infrastructure we want, its not helping me. I pay 45/month for a 3mbps connection, and i dont have choice since its the only high speed provider in my area. just like phone companies and cable companies, ISP's are turning into a local gov't approved monopoly, its a friggin joke.
"We have the freedom of choice, we dont have to wait for our government to decide how fast we should access our networks"
Oh yes we do. its just done in a less obvious way. its called regulation. why dont you call your congressman and ask him to get up the FCC's ass and ask them why they are limiting wireless speeds ? (and make no mistake about it wireless is the ONLY way we will get increased speed in the US, the population density doesnt justify wiring the entire country with gigE or fiber)
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe." --Albert Einstein
No, it won't be obsolete quickly by any means. The reason is similar to why Pentium systems above 200Mhz don't go obsolete, they're sufficient for audio and video which makes them entertainment devices rather than strictly computing devices. People often keep televisions and radios for decades.
100Mbps is fast enough to stream not just full bitrate Mp3s, but decent quality video as well. So, it might not be the fastest forever, but it won't be obsolete for a long time.
While this sounds like a good idea, and may well be, these types of projects tend to go way over budget, and tend to be mismanaged. Feelgood social projects are always nice in principal, but often the downsides and pitfalls are not fully explored.
I think its unfair to take pot shots at the USA, and villanize us. We have a different system than South Korea, its more of an economic ecosystem rather than an engineered environment. If their system works for them, then great.
I am doubtfull of how sucessfull it will be, but I admit that I do not know exactly what the economic environment is there, and nor am I an economist. I would guess however that neither do you have these credentials.
Economic practicality, I think, should over-ride socialist philosophy, because once you break the bank, there isnt any money left for social programs.
Finally, there are plenty of socialist countries, this simply isnt one of them. If you disagree with the economic system, then fine, but put forth thought out arguements rather than flamebate overstatement. I certainly am not impressed with your generic US bashing. There is good and bad in every system.
Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
I'm not going to get into whether or not the country should spend that much money on the network when it has many other problems, but...
People saying 100Mbps won't be fast in 7 years? Screw that. If you think we'll have even 1/10th of that in even 1% of the US in 2010 you're out of your mind. Huge areas of the nation don't even have 56k-capable telephone lines, let alone broadband. This won't change until it's profitable for the businesses to do otherwise. Monopolies own all the lines, and there is no government incentive. There won't be, either. (Which is good and bad)
I've got 1.5Mbps right now, with planned 3Mbps in a year or so. I've only had it for a few months. I don't see it going up much more by then, considering how long it took me to get above dialup...and certainly not to or above 100Mbps. Hell I bet 20Mbps will be a lot in 7 years if you live in the states and we're talking average residential internet speeds. Same goes for globally.
I read your comments about broadband access to those using slow modems and have to chuckle. At present, the FCC is contemplating yet another technology that has the potential of providing access to rural users, however it won't happen because the profit does not justify the cost of hardware. We as a country will never have universal access as long as the private sector foots the bill.
If you think there is going to be true democratic liberty and freedom in Iraq, then I pity you for being so gullible.
South Korea can do whatever it likes with its money. The USA said they could attack Iraq on their own, even with no support from anyone else, if need be. Well, they did attack Iraq, and they stand to gain enormous profit from that attack.
So please, don't fucking tell me that Sth. Korea shouldn't be spending their own money on upgrading their own infrastructure, rather than subsidising the USA's activities. It's positive that they choose to spend so much on their public networks (they could have spent that on their military, for example).
Good for South Korea.
Just in time to be obsolete!
In the 50's, 60's and 70's we were ahead of the game with transportation and housing. We built one of the best transportation systems in the world. Over the last 30 years we have seen our infrascture start to decay and now we find ourselves scrambling to find something new to carry us. The 90's were bad for the economy but semi-decent for technology itself in the US.
Now in 00's, 10's and 20's the asian infastructure is going to be networks and technology. South Korea doing this project and China going to space. They WILL surpass us in very little time.
I imagine that South Korea's system IF put in place will easily last 90% of the population until 2030 or later. The rest will slowly start adopting newer technologies. starting in 2020 you will start to see a decline.
My new title at the office is "Vice-President of Everything Else"