SOUTH KOREA: SEOUL GETS HIGH ON WI-FI

SABRINA VERDUZCO WRITES – South Korea’s technologically advanced capital, Seoul, is about to gain even more popularity as the metropolitan government recently announced its decision to install free WiFi throughout the city by 2017.

According to the Pew Research Center, South Koreans are the most abundant Smartphone users in the world, with 88% of the population owning one.  Technology has grown to be so ubiquitous throughout Seoul, that Internet connectivity has become more of a necessity than a luxury.  Seoul continues to be at the forefront of innovative technology, and WiFi connectivity for all its citizens is no exception.

The initiative, which will provide Internet service to all public spaces and modes of transportation, will work closely with the central government to provide reassurance that the proposed networks will not be hacked or compromised.

Seoul’s mayor, Park Won-Soon, also brought light to an initiative called the Seoul Digital Plan 2020, which strives to expand the presence of Internet of Things (IoT) to the major city.  The Internet of Things technology is a proposed internet development that seeks to bring network connectivity to everyday objects connected to the Internet that allows the devices to identify themselves to other devices in order to send and receive data. Seoul’s government plans to invest 460.5 billion won (US $373.9 million) within the next five years to further enlarge the “diginomics” industry.

This major global city is rightly and widely perceived as an upwardly trending and highly advanced metropolis.  As Seoul sustainably matures into one of the fastest growing technological frontiers, it gains more visibility to the rest of the world as it continues to advance technologically, relative to its Asian counterparts, thanks to the 2017 WiFi initiative and the 2020 Seoul Digital Plan.

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