T-DMB knocks on world market

A new wave of terrestrialdigital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) service is changing Korean lifestyle. With T-DMB phones, Koreans can watch their favorite movies in subways, coffeeshops and in the airport. More than 20 channels are available on T-DMB broadcast by three major TV stations, such as KBS, MBC and SBS.



The full-scale broadcasting service boosts the sales volume of T-DMB phones and the consumer’s desire for replacing their cellphones with these devices. Meanwhile, T-DMB features have been recently integrated into many other applications such as PDAs, notebooks and navigations, allowing the feature to become more common in the future. According to the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ERTI) (www. etri.re.kr),the world’s DMB market size will hit $14 billion by 2010.





The emerging DMB industry provides many attractive opportunities for Korean chip vendors, components manufactures, and systems and service providers. There are over 200 companies in this market, and industry experts noted that it may not be long before Korean companies extend their reach into the global arena.



Despite the good news of such a promising future, the T-DMB industry is urgently seeking national coverage to accelerate their business. Currently, the service only covers limited areas including Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi-Do.



A spokesman of the broadcasting & satellite division of Information-Communication Minister (MIC, www.mic.go.kr) said, “The commercial launch of the T-DMB service is important for overseas sales of T-DMB. This will take place by the end of this year.”



Meanwhile, cellphone manufacturers are watching the popularity of T-DBM phones in the market. Sales of DMB phones have steadily increased, and recent sales volumes are between 30,000 and 40,000 units per month. Market experts predict that Korea’s DMB phone market will hit 3 million units in the near future; they expect it to be the next “killer” application following camera phones.



Jae Hyeok Oh, mobile team manager of C&S Technology (www.cnstec.com), said “DMB phones promise to play a bigger role as broadcasting stations and telecom operators provide more content and data service. The market share of DMB phones will be at least 10 percent in the cellphone market in the near future.” C&S Technology plans to roll out T-DMB IC devices in the first half of this year and frantically competing with other DMB chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Texas Instruments and Renesas Technology.



With the drive toward global standardization, the technologies used in T-DMB promise to usher in a bright future.



Recently, ETRI has revealed the world’s first commercial T-DMB handset and bi-directional data broadcasting handset. Telecom operators KT and KTF have also done a lot of work on content development to expand the DMB industry. Cellphone manufacturers offer various advanced DBM phones targeting Europe, the United States and other regions.