Korean Terrestrial DMB to Be International Standard

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) said yesterday that terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), which Korea commercialized for the first time, has become one of standards approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Accordingly, this technology will more easily penetrate the global market.

The MIC announced, “Korean terrestrial DMB has finally been determined to be one of the ITU’s international standards on December 14, Switzerland time (December 15 Korea time), after a unanimous vote at the ITU broadcasting research team meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland on May 7 and reviews by a total of 191 member nations.”

Terrestrial DMB is a mobile multimedia broadcasting technology that enables clear reception during high-speed movement by incorporating multimedia functions into DAB, a European digital radio technology.

Mobile broadcasting technologies that have become part of international standards include terrestrial DMB, MediaFLO of Qualcomm in the U.S, DVB-H of Nokia in Europe, and OneSeg of Japan.

The Korean market has around 7.8 million terrestrial DMB receiver units total.

In Korea, Germany, and China, real broadcasts are being aired using terrestrial DMB. In Germany, the Vatican, Italy, Ghana, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, China, South Africa, and Canada, test broadcastings are being put on the air.

bookum90@donga.com