Evaluation of Broadband Internet Service for Rural Areas in Korea

Although according to the 2015 OECD survey South Korea ranks number one in broadband internet service in the world, the rural areas in South Korea still lack the enough internet infrastructure to access the national backbone network effectively. Because of the economic feasibility the internet service providers are reluctant to install the broadband internet for the rural areas where less than 50 households live. Recently South Korea has invested lots of efforts to provide broadband access to the rural areas to overcome the digital divide. In this research, to evaluate the performance of broadband internet service for rural areas in South Korea we develop the empirical model based on the information systems success model. Then, we collect the questionnaires from the subscribers who have used the broadband internet service since 2013. Finally, the structural equation model validates the causal relationship between system and/or service quality and performance. The major findings and suggestion for further research will be discussed in the conference in details.