Policy agendas for South Korea's broadband convergence network infrastructure project

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the South Korean government's policy objectives for the Broadband Convergence Network (BcN).Design/methodology/approachThis paper integrates two primary approaches. The first is documentary research and analysis of primary policy texts relating to the evolution of South Korea's Broadband Convergence Network (BcN) from 2004 to 2007. The second approach involves field interviews of key informants who are familiar with the policy agenda of the BcN in South Korea.FindingsThis paper's findings on the policy agenda of the BcN are intended to be useful for executives in the private sector, officials in government and academics in university settings who are interested in drawing insights from Korean experience to inform their own work.Research limitations/implicationsThe BcN's mix of private and public sector stakeholders may have implications for incipient projects in terms of how to structure regulatory oversight for similar initiatives and how to determine the optimal level of government participation in similar broadband and new media infrastructures. This study serves as a first step for academic inquiry into the policy implications of the BcN.Originality/valueThis paper advances the existing research on broadband policy in South Korea by providing one of the only scholarly research studies to address the BcN. Even though the existing research base addresses broadband in South Korea, this is one of the few studies that specifically examines the BcN infrastructure project. As a result this paper offers a unique and distinct analysis of the policy agenda for the BcN and examines the institutional underpinnings of this particular infrastructure project which has not been adequately covered in the existing literature.