On the first day of April, 1999 South Korea became the world’s first country that commercially launched ADSL broadband, Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, which is 60 times faster than ISDN, Integrated Services Digital Network. And until now, South Korea’s know-hows and experiences in the development of advanced IT technologies and infrastructures have been benchmarked by many countries that want to develop and initiate their long-term plans for the IT infrastructure investment.

We, VEYOND PARTNERS, have long been dedicated to providing insights into the Korean TMT(Telecommunications, Media, and Technology) sector for clients from both public and private sectors in developed and developing countries. We understand that countries in the world are now struggling to find ways to lift their economies out of recession. We believe that Korea’s experiences and lessons learned in the course of the implementation of the IT infrastructure development plan during the Asian economic crisis would be a great reference to those countries.

Below is a quick snapshot for you to look at what changes had been made after the Korean government embarked on the IT infrastructure plan in 1999.

Source: National Information Society Agency, South Korea

After the launch of ADSL broadband service in 1999, a large number of new Internet-based businesses and service models were created not only by corporations and retailers, but also by students and those who want to run their own business by harnessing the power of broadband. Korea’s rapid technology pace has made many knowledge-based technology ventures that leverage experience in a broadband Internet environment feasible, and still such businesses as online game and Internet web service has been evolving, which certainly contribute to keeping Korean economy moving forward. So, it can be said that the broadband infrastructure became a road for Korean government to ride out the economic crisis and to generate the next wave of economic expansion.

Below are some reasons for Korea’s ICT success and whether they are replicable in other nations. If you want to know more about it, we, VEYOND PARTNERS, will help you find more in-depth information.

Source: ITU

Several days ago, I have posted how EA is exploiting Korean Online Game’s competitiveness by partnering with major Korean Game Developers. One good example is EA’s collaboration with NeoWiz on its flagship product FIFA.

Today EA has released interesting news regarding on this Move. EA Korea has acquired another Korean Game Developer called J2M(www.j2m.co.kr) which has produced popular game products such as RayCity (Driving Game) and Debut (Online Dancing Game). J2M, founded in 2004, is regarded by industry experts as one of the companies which have both game developing capability and service delivery Knowhow. EA, which has been motivated by the success of its first collaboration effort in FIFA Online, is actively continuing to monitor Korean market for the quest of discovering the next growth platform.

Sometime ago I wrote on this Blog that we will create a News Letter. Finally it has been published today. It was much harder and took longer than I orginally expected. However during the making of this edition I heard from many friends, especially Non Koreans, about their needs on Information about the Korean Telecom, Media, and Technology sector.

I tried hard to suit their needs but as their needs were very diverse I could not cover all the requests. But during this process I have also learned what the really sought after news on Korean TMT sector are, so I will keep it in mind for the upcoming editions.

Do read this News Letter and I hope you all can get at least some ‘points’ from it. I also recommend you to spread this News Letter to your friends/collegues/clients as it will be a good source for their business. Also keep in touch with me if you have any additional ideas or requests.

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Thanks again for your generous patience.

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