At over 105pc penetration, the South Korean capital city of Seoul is around 10 years ahead of Ireland in terms of homes connected to broadband despite having started rollout around the same time, claimed IrelandOffline.
According to the latest city-level broadband penetration statistics from the South Korean Government, broadband penetration in terms of households accessing broadband stands at 105pc.
Across most of Korea’s cities average broadband penetration per household stands at 89pc.
Irish observers reckon it could take Ireland up to 10 years to reach such a level.
According to recent EU data, broadband penetration in Ireland stands at 10.5pc, below the European average of 15.7pc.
Broadband lobby group IrelandOffline said this country failed to grasp the potential of broadband in the same manner as South Korea.
However, it would be fair to point out that South Korea has the advantage of dense populations living in apartments compared with Ireland’s sparse population and stand-alone housing regimen.
Nonetheless, said IrelandOffline spokesman Damien Mulley, a vital opportunity has been missed.
“South Korea saw the advantage of a knowledge economy and then implemented what needed to be done,” he said.
“In Ireland we also saw the need to have a knowledge economy but so far achieving it has been grossly mismanaged with finger pointing and excuse-making being far too common instead of getting down to joined-up thinking.
“It is a shame that both countries started around the same time yet Ireland is well over a decade away, if ever, from matching what South Korea has done,” Mulley said.
By John Kennedy
