Telecommunication in South Korea

Development of telephone and internet connections

With an average download speed of 99.87 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, South Korea ranks 29th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 95 Mbit/second (13th place).
In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, South Korea comes 4th with a download speed of 125.17 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 17 Mbit was only enough for 14th place.

The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in October 2022 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 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.

Access to the internet in South Korea from 1990 - 2021

Broadband internet in South Korea 1998 - 2021

South Korea is doing very well in the expansion of broadband internet connections. Around 98 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 44 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications.