South Korea getting 1GB broadband by 2012

The South Korean government has laid out a pledge to introduce broadband of speeds up to 1GB throughout the country by 2012.

The Korean Communications Commission (KCC) has also signalled its intention to boost wireless broadband speeds to around 10Mbps.

KCC officials intend to achieve this service upgrade through utilising the WiBro standard by allocating portions of the 800 MHz and 900 MHz spectrum to new operators.

It is estimated that this project will carry a cost of around $24.6 billion (£17.25 billion) but will create around 120,000 jobs in the country.

People in the Asian country can already access broadband of around 100Mbps from various domestic internet service providers.

Mark Renck, a programmer living in South Korea, told ZDNet: "I didn't realise how much the web had to offer until I got to Korea."

"I couldn't appreciate it until I got here and saw what true high-speed access does to change your perception of how fast information truly moves," he added.

This also runs in contrast to the UK government's recently released plan to introduce broadband of a minimum speed of 2Mbps during the same time period.