The commercial service of terrestrial digital multimedia broadcasting (T-DMB) will kick off in eight major cities of Germany in May ahead of the World Cup football finals, the Ministry of Information and Communication said Monday.
The launching of the T-DMB service in Germany will help the Korean-developed technology have a leg up on mobile TV systems in Europe, the ministry said.
So far, it has been in an uphill battle to become the mainstream technology for mobile TV services in the region against DVB-H technology, which is developed by Nokia, the world's top mobile phone maker.
``By taking a head start with the DVB-H system in the European region, the DMB will able to have an advantage in the competition for the standard mobile TV format,’’ the Ministry said in a statement. ``Germany’s DMB service will also bring positive effects to France and Italy where test services are on the run.’’
The T-DMB service will cover eight major cities such as Berlin, Munich, Koln and Stuttgart, and will be expanded to four more cities within the year. Debitel, the No. 3 mobile service carrier in the country, will be the main operator.
T-DMB is Korea's locally developed wireless broadcasting technology that enables people on the road to watch TVs on palm-size screens through in-vehicle terminals or handheld gadgets.
Earlier this month, Samsung Electronics said it would supply its mobile TV phones to Debitel, which has some 10 million subscribers. Samsung’s archrival LG Electronics also said that it is under negotiation with the German company for supplying its products.
According to research firm Strategy Analytics, the global market of mobile TV phones is expected to grow to 120 million units by 2010, accounting 10 percent of all handsets to be sold in the year. Currently, it amounts to around 1 percent of the handset market.
