Beyond ADSL to the speed of light

The speed of light is 670 million miles per hour, and that`s the speed digital data is travelling in the leading broadband countries. While Internet users in SA and elsewhere in the West think 1Mbps Internet connections are the standard, Internet users in South Korea, China and other Asian countries are `riding the light` of optical fibre.

Could the South African lion complete with the Asian tiger for Internet speed? Andy Robb, a technology specialist at Duxbury Networking, takes a look at the route Asian countries have travelled in their quest to be the fastest of all.

The era of the ultra-high-speed Internet connection has arrived in the East, giving Internet surfers in Asia Pacific countries, such as South Korea and China the opportunity to send data at the speed of light - 670 million miles per hour - over fibre optic links.

These countries are at the forefront of broadband access, largely because their governments have created a climate conducive to the widespread adoption of broadband technologies.

As a result, consumers have a choice of broadband technologies and service providers. What`s more, the cost of bandwidth has become extremely affordable - unlike SA where bandwidth cost is among the most expensive in the world.

In Asia, broadband connections have gone from between one and three Megabits per second (Mbps) two years ago to a staggeringly fast 50Mbps to 100Mbps today.

Demand for broadband services, including voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), online games and IP television, is skyrocketing.

In these countries, there is no such thing as too much bandwidth.

Why are countries, such as SA, which boast a sophisticated marketplace and IT infrastructure, so disadvantaged when it comes to broadband connectivity?

Industry watchers are adamant that the level of economic wealth is not the biggest determining factor behind broadband development.

Surprisingly, it appears as if social factors - including the political climate and cultural tolerance - may play more significant roles.

For example, in South Korea and China, bottom-up, grass-roots entrepreneurship and aggressive "Netizenship" have contributed the most to the rapid explosion of broadband.

This has been coupled with fierce market competition and freedom-hungry citizens` activities.

The conservative and rigid institutional frameworks that characterise SA and other western countries may be the biggest barriers to the healthy development of broadband applications, services and the market.

Again, using South Korea as an example, this country enjoys one of the highest ratios of Internet penetration, with nearly 75% of the population using the Net. In SA, this ratio is below 10%.

South Korean broadband subscribers are now close to 9 million or nearly 20% of the population and almost half of its households. In SA, ADSL subscribers make up only around 0.1% of the population.

Why are some countries experiencing a broadband explosion while others are hamstrung by slow connections?

One way to approach this question is to try to understand it in economic terms. In the case of the Internet, we have seen a general tendency for Internet development and economic development go hand in hand.

But in the case of broadband, at least looking at the East Asian situation compared with that of the West, it appears as if the political will of the leaders and aggressive government policies to promote Internet or broadband are the leading factors for success.

South Korea has championed broadband related policies since 1993 in plans proposed by former President Kim Young-sam. His policies were behind the construction of a nation-wide optical fibre network, completed in 2000, and the provision of broadband services to government agencies and public institutions including all the public schools.

The policy encouraged competition, with government sponsored loans to service providers geared to help them construct high-speed access networks.

The government also launched its "New Life with the Internet" programme to support Internet game centres, an online stock exchange, and widespread cyber education initiatives.

Research was also addressed via the government backed Koren (Korea Advanced Research Network) programme that was responsible for connecting GigaPoPs (Gigabit points of presence) in major cities as well as high-speed international links with Japan, China, Singapore, Europe and the US.

Underlining these comprehensive policies was a determination by grass-root entrepreneurs and Netizens who were responsible for driving high-speed broadband through the proliferation of "PC Bang" Internet cafes, exclusively designed for Internet gaming services.

Online games, called MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons) became very popular in South Korea in the late1990s and many high school and university students became addicted to online combat and simulation games. The most popular online game today is Lineage, with more than 12 million subscribers.

South Korean people are often characterised by the word "pari-pari", which describes a mentality that predisposes them "not to waste time".

Their impatient nature has led to fierce competition among Internet cafes for higher speed access services. Many introduced 1.5Mbps high-speed digital leased lines to offer maximum performance for response-savvy customers.

Since there was abundant supply of fibre optics in the market, with a liberalised competition framework just introduced combined with the surge in demand, prices of leased line services dropped drastically.

This is a very clear case of a positive spiral generated by real demand from the market.

The high-speed access market was further expanded by the introduction of xDSL technology. ADSL, the first of the xDSL family, was first introduced to Asia in 1997.

Unlike many other countries where early introduction of ADSL was very much blocked by local telcos, South Koreans did not face such a problem, as government policy prevented Korea Telecom from slowing or blocking the rapid introduction of ADSL by new competitors.

The important lesson taken from the Asian broadband experiences is that government policy and marketplace demand need to be synergistic.

This is evident in Hong Kong, which is known for its free market environment and strong competition in ICT markets - even after its transition to mainland rule.

Many market watchers believe Hong Kong could outdo South Korea and have the highest broadband penetration in Asia by 2006 because of the social and cultural factors involved in its adoption.

These include a high awareness of the challenges of globalisation, which will continue to play decisive roles in Hong Kong`s dynamic acceptance of the Internet and acceleration of broadband.

By contrast, in SA, the monopolistic effect of the incumbent telco is expected to continue to dominate the marketplace for some time, leaving little room for real competitors to establish a foothold.

In addition, SA will have to overcome a legacy of mistakes, including the adoption of ATM technology in the mid-1990s, instead of the (then) new IP-based technology that subsequently boosted the Internet and now broadband.

Unfortunately, the widespread adoption of broadband technology has yet to appear on the local telecommunications horizon.