More than half of Korean households use broadband, according to an
internet research company. In contrast, only one in 32 on-line
households use broadband in the UK, which is still lagging far
behind Asia, the rest of Europe and the US in home broadband
connections.
The survey, released yesterday by France-based NetValue, found
that of 11 countries studied, the US is second behind Korea in
percentage of households connecting via broadband, where one in
nine on-line households uses broadband. France has the highest
percentage of broadband households in Europe, and with one in 16
on-line households having a broadband connection, twice the UK
rate.
Although only 5% of on-line households in Germany are using a
broadband connection, Germany leads the other countries included in
the report for ISDN usage. In February 2001, 37.8% of German
on-line households connected via ISDN, followed by Denmark with
19.5% of households.
Compared to the Asian and European countries in this study,
except for Korea, the US leads broadband usage with 11.1% of
households connecting via broadband in February. However, broadband
penetration in the US is significantly lower than in Korea, where
the figure is 57.3%.
When comparing broadband usage to modem usage in the US,
NetValue points out that it is not only important for businesses to
recognise the growth potential of the market but also which user
groups are the "early adopters." Its survey shows that the 14 and
under age group accounts for a significant portion of broadband
usage.
Consequently, NetValue argues that businesses that are directly
and/or indirectly affected by broadband usage - cable operators who
provide broadband access, entertainment sites who use audio/video
or gaming sites - can use this intelligence to better target their
marketing/advertising initiatives and tailor their product
offerings to the 14 and under age group.
Broadband allows users better access to richer online material.
With more than half of Korean households connecting via broadband,
it is not surprising that 73.9% of the Korean internet population
used audio or video in February, and over half (54.1%) used a
gaming protocol. Over a third of internet users in Hong Kong used
audio/video and Spain had the highest audio/video usage in Europe
(33.8%). In contrast, only 29.5% of US internet users and only 23.8
per cent of UK internet users viewed video or used audio.
Broadband and audio/video trends emerging in Korea are good
indicators for what the future may hold in Europe and the US.
