South Korea is the first country to go over 100% wireless coverage, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Worldwide, the OECD shows that subscriptions to wireless Internet have been growing on an average of 13% every six or so months. The total number of broadband subscriptions now totals 667 million. Last year in June, there were only 590 million total subscribers.
South Korea now has an average of 100.6 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of the country. The OECD data doesn’t necessarily mean there are more subscriptions than people: mobile phone & high-speed Internet subscriptions were both included in the study. There are nearly 48 subscriptions per 100 for mobile Internet alone in South Korea, and 53.1 high-speed Internet users per 100.
The OECD is comprised of 34 different countries, including the US, Japan, and South Korea. The average number of subscriptions per 100 users tends to hover around 54, while the US is at 76. South Korea is just barely ahead of Sweden – 98 to every 100 – which are followed by Finland with 82.4 per 100. At the bottom of the scales were Turkey, Hungary, and Mexico, which were all below 13 per 100.