The pay‐per‐use revolution in the internet world
| Published date | 01 August 2005 |
| Date | 01 August 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520510617866 |
| Pages | 419-421 |
| Author | Sangkyun Kim |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
AT THE SHARP END
The pay-per-use revolution in the
internet world
Sangkyun Kim
Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to assess the spread of internet use and the pay-per-use
system.
Design/methodology/approach – Presents the active debate with regard to “pay-per-use” for
internet access, and pays particular consideration to the progress and propects of pay-per-use in Korea.
Findings – Although the trend is towards a pay-per-use system, the Korean Government has
concerns about a pay-per-use system.
Originality/value – Indicates that transformation into pay-per-us e will require a dramatic
revolution and a change in the internet service indudustry.
Keywords Internet, SouthKorea
Paper type Research paper
The pricing of internet access
Household provision of internet access is continuously growing worldwide. However,
the state of growth is very uneven across different countries. In 2003, Korea, for
example, had reached saturation point with more than 70 per cent of households
accessing the internet. On the other hand, several OECD countries such as the Czech
Republic, Greece and the Slovak Republic only launched household internet services in
2003 (Rhee et al., 2004).
The state of internet growth in any country can be assessed by the price and level of
service of internet access. Internet users adopt flat rate system regardless of the
amount of usage in most countries. In other words, the price of internet access is set at a
fixed monthly rate no matter how much they use. Other countries, such as Australia,
Austria, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Portugal and Switzerland, adopt a mixture of the
fixed price and metered pricing (Oh, 2004). In many cases the fixed allowance is set so
high that many customers are not expected to exceed this allowed amount. In the
pay-per-use system payment totally depends on the amount of internet usage. In other
words, the fixed allowance is set at a very low amount, with metered pricing
accounting for the bulk of usage charges.
The active debate for pay-per-use
There is an active debate of the issue pay-per-use of internet service betw een
opponents and supporters in many countries, because the pay-per-use system can lead
to quite different results of the overall price paid by the users, their usage of the
internet service, and the business model and service architecture of interne t companies.
However, transformation into pay-per-use will require a dramatic revolution and a
change in the internet service industry.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Pay-per-use and
the internet
419
Online Information Review
Vol. 29 No. 4, 2005
pp. 419-421
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520510617866
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