Telecommunication in South Korea
Compared to the European Union, South Korea is at the forefront of the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +82, there were a total of 94.37 m connections in 2020. Among them were 70.51 m million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.4 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.In the expansion of broadband Internet connections South Korea is very well in the race. Around 97% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 43% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 315,697 webhosts, South Korea is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: South Korea
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 217.15 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, South Korea ranked 4th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 206.05 Mbit/second (3rd place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 20th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, South Korea comes 2nd with a download speed of 192.58 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 22 Mbit was enough for 7th place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Mai 2021 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in South Korea from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in South Korea 1998 - 2020
Landlines 1990 - 2020
Mobile phones 1990 - 2020
| Distribution in 2020 | South Korea Total | South Korea percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 49.97 m | 96.51 % | 393.46 m | 87.87 % |
| Broadband users | 22.33 m | 43.12 % | 162.67 m | 36.33 % |
| Landlines | 23.86 m | 46.08 % | 159.99 m | 35.73 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 70.51 m | 136.18 % | 541.96 m | 121.03 % |