Top Consumer ISPs in South Korea

In South Korea, dialup accounts continue to decrease as users trade up for cable modem and DSL access. Satellite services show a dramatic decrease, but this segment of the broadband market is under the control of a single incumbent carrier, Korea Telecom. As a result, it’s impossible to distinguish between a monopoly disincentive hindering satellite uptake and the technological disadvantages of satellite Internet access, which is subject to latency.

Rank	ISP	Dialup	xDSL	Cable	ISDN	WLAN	Tier
1	Korea Telecom	204,441	4,110,060	–	68,470	754	1
2	Boranet, Supernet (DACOM)	159,537	79,642	74,869	–	–	2
3	AFFiS	98,722	–	–	–	–	5
4	Shinbiro (Onse Telecom)	18,048	–	408,138	–	–	3
5	Samsung Networks (formerly UNITEL)	20,000	–	–	–	–	3
6	Hanvit	15,144	–	–	–	–	5
7	Hitel (KOLNET)	2,900	–	–	–	–	3
8	Elimnet	2,700	–	–	–	–	3
9	KTNet	758	–	–	–	–	3
10	NEXTEL	150	–	–	20	–	–
11	Hanaro Telecom	–	1,267,136	1,524,760	25,012	39,355	2
12	Broadband Media, DreamX	–	43,524	87,435	–	–	3
13	MoumNet	–	32,020	–	–	–	4
14	kiti net	–	25,000	–	–	–	5
15	ISS@N	–	20,086	–	–	–	3
16	Korea ThruNet	–	3,869	1,302,497	–	–	2
17	SaerounNet	–	3,100	73,400	–	–	3
18	MagicPower Networks	–	2,600	15,210	–	–	4
19	Digital System	–	877	34,132	–	–	4
20	MIRENET	–	340	–	–	–	5
21	Raynet	–	98	–	–	–	5
22	MINS	–	3	3,117	–	–	5
23	Syncroad, NetsGO (SK Telecom )	–	–	32,384	3	–	3, 3
24	DreamPlus	–	–	38,350	–	–	5
25	Qrix Networks	–	–	27,500	–	–	4
26	Kangnam Cable TV	–	–	18,292	–	–	4
27	KCNET	–	–	15,458	–	–	4
28	Cableline	–	–	11,689	–	–	–
29	Kawhcon Broadcasting Network	–	–	7,100	–	–	5
	Total (including smaller operators)	504,356	5,587,835	3,697,745	93,505	40,109

Notes:

1) Korea Telecom was the sole satellite Internet provider in South Korea and reported 6,087 subscribers.

2) We do not count free and shell accounts, which number 4,369,047 at Boranet (DACOM), 5,504,614 at the all-free university provider Edunet, 424,846 at Kolnet (Hitel), 2,132,437 at Netsgo (SK Telecom), and 1,850,201at Nowcom.

3) Tiers are defined by KoreaNIC by number of /24s of IP addresses as follows:

Tier 1: more than 16,384
Tier 2: more than 2,048
Tier 3: more than 256
Tier 4: more than 32
Tier 5: more than 4
Tier 6: more than 1
Tier 7: 1

An ISP’s tier determines the annual fees it owes KoreaNIC.

4) KoreaNIC says there are 85 facilities-based ISPs in South Korea.

Top Webhosts in South Korea
For reasons not explained by the data shown here, the total number of leased line accounts and the total number of Webhosting accounts both declined in South Korea over the past six months. This could mean that there are fewer sites that need to be hosted or that sites hosted in South Korea three months ago have found hosts in other countries. Either way, there has been a downturn in Webhosting activity.

Rank	ISP	Webhosting Accounts	Leased Lines
1	TTNet (Today & Tomorrow)	16,473	–
2	Korea Telecom	10,517	31,882
3	Hitel (KOLNET)	4,650	368
4	Boranet (DACOM)	5,258	11,564
5	Shinbiro (Onse Telecom)	914	1,218
6	QrixNetworks	400	78
7	Korea ThruNet	302	845
8	EDUNET	400	3
9	Hanaro Telecom	95	6,435
10	KTNet	83	946
11	SamsungNetworks (formerly UNITEL)	70	800
12	ISS@N	15	594
	Total: South Korea (including small operators)	40,787	76,312

Networking Accounts in South Korea
The number of networking accounts increased as cable and DSL users signed up for them.

Rank	ISP	Leased Line	xDSL	Cable	WLAN	Total
1	Korea Telecom	–	556,898	–	–	556,898
2	Broadband Media, DreamX	–	48,952	–	–	48,952
3	Hanaro Telecom	–	–	16,854	–	16,854
4	InterTNS (Internet Training & Service)	1,810	2,120	–	–	3,830
5	Weburo	3,200	–	–	–	3,200
6	Elimnet	1,850	–	–	–	1,850
	Total: South Korea (including small operators)	8,269	601,219	48,952	0	658,440

Reprinted from ISP-Planet