Korea Ranks 7th Worldwide in Wi-Fi Hotspots

As reported in the Chosun Ilbo, new statistics from JiWire show that South Korea has 12,814 Wi-Fi hotspots, placing it 7th in the World. The U.S. leads with 68,059, followed by China, the UK, France, Russia and Germany. The majority of Korea's hotspots are part of KT's Nespot service.

The broader significance of Wi-Fi hotspots was noted in a new draft report by Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society. The report is entitled Next Generation Connectivity: A review of broadband internet transitions and policy from around the world. The report is available for download from the Berkman Center site.

The Berkman Center refers to Wi-Fi as providing "nomadic access" to broadband, as opposed to mobile or fixed access. The current trend toward ubiquitous, seamless access therefore involves the integration of fixed, mobile and nomadic access.

Finally, I recommend the Berkman Center's new report to readers of this blog for many reasons. It contains the best comparative analysis I've seen to date of the major international measures of broadband --the ITU and OECD measures, the World Economic Forum, and Leonard Waverman.