What does South Korea have to do with YouTube-Google merger? Nothing blatant or obvious, yet a lot!
South Korea is one of the most wired societies and has been a broadband leader for a while. The country also has a unique position from a wireless broadband/3G perspective, and is pushing hard to develop the fourth generation wireless technologies. South Korea is a microcosm a broadband future, and Google could learn a lot from it – especially when it comes to online video.
Singapore-based telecom company StarHub recently announced that it will be offering one year of free broadband access to selected web sites and online services.
In an effort to “encourage dial-up Internet users to discover the benefits of unlimited broadband access,” StarHub is now offering a free 4 Mbps broadband connection to anyone who purchases a $50 cable modem from them. (So technically the service is not free.)
But as they say, you get what you pay for, and the free service has its own restrictions.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the country’s “Wireless@SG initiative” this week, which is a plan to cover the island nation in wireless broadband by September 2007. The government will use 5,000 access points to provide almost complete coverage across the tiny country and will provide almost 10,000 computers to low-income students at a subsidized price.
The Prime Minister says the wireless project and computer program are aimed at preventing a digital divide from developing in Singaporean society. Though, it could probably help add to the country’s IT-based economy as well — South Korea managed to use government-sponsored wireless broadband to boost its economy in the IT sector over the past few years.
