Reaching for the Stars With Digital Convergence ... - Korea IT Times

2006-03-12006.3.410:48AM페이지34001채널맥(3443-0701)
CeBIT 2006 Hannover
Korea@CeBIT 2006
DMB Spreads Wings
to Overseas markets
With the inauguration of the
“Wibro, DMB Overseas
Promotion Bureau” in Korea,
backed by the strong support of the
Ministry of Information & Communication
(MIC), Wibro as well as DMB are poised
to spread their wings to the world.
In the meanwhile, DMB (digital
multimedia broadcasting), developed by
domestic technology, is set to launch pilot
broadcasting for the Germany World Cup
relay in 2006 with the State of Bavaria,
Germany on April, 2005. Since then too,
DMB has been going from one success to
another overseas, with the pilot project
announcement with England in September,
2005, pilot broadcasting commencement in
France on Dec. 2005 as well as
broadcasting commencement in China and
Korea’s DMB shows its edge in sports game relay and disaster warning systems.
Efforts focused on commercial broadcasting and services, using high-profile sports
and marketing events as marketing tools
overseas inroads into Canada in January
this year, respectively.
Likewise, WiBro also which succeeded
in its standardization for the first time in
the world at the end of last year, made
inroads into Canada along with DMB on
Jan. this year.
To devote the ministry’s heart and soul
to U-IT839 diffusion, MIC has newly
established the Wibro, DMB Overseas
Promotion Bureau within its ministry, of
which Director General Lee Jae-Hong is in
charge.
Upbeat outlook for overseas inroads
The newly established Bureau’s Chief
Director General Lee stresses that its
establishment is very timely in that this
will be an important year to serve as a
watershed for Korea’s DMB or Wibro
overseas inroads. He was very upbeat on
the outlook of Korea’s DMB or Wibro
service’s overseas inroads, adding that we
can as much as one want if we can
encroach on 30% of world mobile market
at the minimum.
First off, Lee emphasizes that the
Wibro, DMB Overseas Promotion Bureau
wants to approach oversea markets by
combining the cutting edges of DMB and
Wibro. Accordingly in the case of Europe,
DMB is expected to compete with DVB-H
mode backed by Nokia, according to Lee.
The Director General elaborates
further: “It is mistakenly thought by
European broadcasting companies as well
as mobile network operators there that
DMB is a free-charge broadcasting
without profit model whereas DVB-H
holds a profit model with a host of
channels.” DVB-H may have two or three
times more channels, but its framework is
inferior in comparison with DMB and
furthermore DVB-H is weak in sports
game relay, he explains.
In contrast, DMB can show its edge not
only in sports game relay but also in
disaster warning systems plus being able
to provide users with roughly 100
programs, such as cooking, travel, golf,
badook and so on, which satisfy users
tastes through Wibro. Mr. Lee underscores
that such combination model is the most
differentiated edge of Korean DMB and
Korea is expected to launch such mobile
models during the third quarter of this
year.
During the 3G Congress held in
Barcelona, Spain last month or CeBIT
Germany which will be held in Hanover
this month, the Director General notes that
MIC is revealing Korea’s DMB or Wibro
promotion activities with such a strategy.
Keeping an eye on the fact that
European mobile network operators are
keenly interested in business opportunities
including profit models for DMB, Lee
pointed out that DMB could create new
revenue by attracting customers by early
introduction of mobile TV plus additional
data traffic like return channel and data
service.
As for why DMB should be a chosen
mobile network operator, he further names
brand differentiation to be able to satisfy
the customer demand on the multimedia
content in consideration of the fact that
digitalization leads to the convergence of
broadcasting and telecom, which fulfills
consumers demands for multimedia at low
cost. He also introduces interactive service
like t-commerce, traffic and travel
information and broadcasting early
disaster warning information as new
services that DMB offers.
Massive information in real-time, bidirectional
& cost-effectiveness
In this regard, Mr. Lee insists that
Korea’s terrestrial DMB particularly holds
Director General Lee Jae-hong,
Wibro, DMB Overseas
Promotion Bureau, MIC.
many edges in terms of offering massive
information in real-time, being bidirectional
with existing communication
networks, and cost-effectiveness.
For example, the necessity of a disaster
warning system with which Korea’s
terrestrial DMB shows its edge according
to Lee, is because disasters (natural/nonnatural)
are happening everywhere and
intimidating quality of life, immediate
alarm and rescue system helps to reduce
the damage, and disaster warning system
requires immediate transmission of
message etc.
As to these multi-faceted benefits of
DMB, Director General Lee summarizes:
“It provides customers with better quality
AV service under mobile environment and
value-added diverse interactive services
anytime & anywhere. For industry, it offers
new mega business opportunity and contents
for mobile multimedia and can boost
the digital equipment markets. In terms of
service provider, it means less investment
for mobile services and new explosive revenue
source plus leading the convergence
service of telecommunications and broadcasting.”
In regard to Wibro’s marketing plan as
well, the Director General said that MIC
will concentrate its promotion efforts on
increasing its commercialization countries,
mentioning that the best overseas
promotion service is to start commercial
service in as soon as possible in Korea
About the forthcoming Germany World
Cup too, which will kick off in June, this
year, he expressed big expectations,
adding that the ministry’s Wibro, DMB
Overseas Promotion Bureau is planning to
show off Korea’s technical excellence by
means of pilot broadcasting there.
Korea must approach overseas markets by combining the cutting edges of DMB and
WiBro.
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