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SK Broadband

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SK Broadband, Inc.
FormerlyHanaro Telecom, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
KRX: 033630
IndustryTelecommunications
FoundedSeptember 23, 1997 (1997-09-23)[1] as Hanaro Telecom
September 22, 1997 (1997-09-22)[2] as SK Broadband
Headquarters
Seoul
,
South Korea
Key people
Jin-Hwan Choi (CEO)
ServicesVoice (Fixed-line/VoIP)
Broadband Internet
Cable TV
Leased lines
IPTV
RevenueIncrease KRW 1,314,981 million (Q2 2015)
ParentSK Group
Websiteskbroadband.com
SK Broadband
Hangul
SK브로드밴드
Revised RomanizationSK Beurodeubaendeu
McCune–ReischauerSK Pŭrodŭbaendŭ

SK Broadband, Inc. KRX: 033630, formerly known as Hanaro Telecom, is a Seoul-based telecommunications company and a wholly owned subsidiary of SK Telecom. It is one of the largest broadband Internet access providers in South Korea. Until its takeover in 2008, Hanaro controlled nearly half of the Korean landline market, as it was the only last mile-competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) other than the state-owned KT Corp. SK Broadband also has a division known as "Broad &" that controls a large portion of the South Korean calling card market.

In October 2014, SK Broadband unveiled the world's first 10 Gbit/s Internet service at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference. The new Internet service is 100 times faster than existing LAN services in South Korea, which deliver download speeds of 100 Mbit/s.[3][4]

History

Originally a domestic fixed-line carrier, Hanaro Telecom entered the broadband market in 1999[5] and grew from there to become a ‘Triple-Play’ provider with VoIP service, broadband Internet and an IPTV service branded as B.TV. In addition, Hanaro Telecom provides leased line services and IDC services to its corporate clients.[6]

Since 2000, Hanaro has participated in the Cisco Powered Network Program, a joint marketing program between Cisco and network service providers which offers public services over a network powered by Cisco Systems equipment. Hanaro Telecom and Korea Thrunet shared about 45 percent of the broadband market, with Korea Telecom, South Korea's incumbent telecommunications operator, commanding around 50 percent as of 2002.[7] To consolidate its position in the broadband market, Hanaro acquired its second largest rival, Korea Thrunet, in March 2005 for 471.4 billion won ($460 million); the final price was five percent less than Hanaro's original offer to outbid Dacom.[8]

In February 2008, Hanaro Telecom was acquired by local wireless giant SK Telecom for 1.09 trillion won ($1.2 billion).[9] Its new name, SK Broadband, was adopted in September 2008. In 2015, SK Telecom bought all of SK Broadband's stocks in a stock swap deal, the deal was finalized on July 1, 2015, and SK Broadband became a wholly owned subsidiary of SK Telecom.

In November 2015, SK Telecom agreed to acquire a 30% stake in competitor CJ HelloVision for KRW 500 billion.[10] The acquisition will make SK Broadband the No. 2 paid cable broadcaster in South Korea, following KT.[citation needed]

In September 2021, SK Broadband sued American pay television service Netflix to pay for the increased network costs and bandwidth which it blames on popular shows such as Squid Game.[11] SK Broadband claims that Netflix’s traffic on the ISP network has exponentially increased about 24 times, from 50 Gigabits per second in May 2018 to 1,200 Gigabits in September 2021.[12]

Stock market listings

See also

References

  1. ^ "Hanaro Telecom and Cisco Systems Form Strategic Alliance" (Press release). Seoul, South Korea: Hanaro Telecom/Cisco Systems. PRNewswire. June 14, 2000. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  2. ^ "Hanaro renamed SK Broadband". Telecompaper. September 22, 2008.
  3. ^ "SK Broadband to Offer 10 Gbps Internet". BusinessKorea Co., Ltd. October 14, 2014.
  4. ^ Smith, Greg (October 14, 2015). "Cisco Blog: South Korea's SK Broadband Improving the User Experience with Cisco cBR-8". Cisco Systems.
  5. ^ Kim, Yongsoo; Kelly, Tim; Raja, Siddhartha (2010). Building Broadband: Strategies and Policies for the Developing World. GICT. p. 45.
  6. ^ "Hanaro Telecom Selects CommVerge Solutions and Force10 Networks for 10GbE Deployment" (Press release). SEOUL, South Korea: CommVerge. PRNewswire. October 14, 2003. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  7. ^ "Hanaro Telecom and Thrunet of Korea plan joint bid for cable operator Powercomm". Optical Newsletter. January 9, 2002.
  8. ^ Galbraith, Michael (March 1, 2005). "Thrunet takeover to stabilize Korean broadband market by Hanaro Telecom". Telecom Asia. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016.
  9. ^ "SK Telecom Acquiring Control Of Hanaro For $1.2B". Forbes. December 3, 2007.
  10. ^ "SK Telecom Plans To Acquire Further Stake In CJ Hellovision". Bloomberg L.P. November 3, 2015.
  11. ^ "Netflix might have to pay millions in bandwidth usage fees in South Korea - The Verge". October 2021.
  12. ^ "South Korean ISP SK Broadband counterclaims against Netflix for bandwidth usage fees – TechCrunch". 30 September 2021.
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