Number of DMB service users soars in 2008

SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Yonhap) -- The number of subscribers to digital multimedia
broadcasting (DMB) services surged about 60 percent on-year in 2008 on aggressive
marketing and the Beijing Olympics, a trade association said Wednesday.

Users of DMB, which allows people to view TV programs, movies and other
entertainment content via mobile devices, totaled 17.25 million as of end-2008,
up 59.9 percent from a year earlier, according to the Terrestrial-DMB Special
Committee.
South Korea started the world's first DMB service in 2005, which is operated
through terrestrial or fee-based satellite transmission.
According to the committee which represents six service carriers, 15.4 million
terrestrial DMB devices, including mobile phones, were sold as of the end of
2008, up 70 percent from the previous year.
The number of subscribers to its fee-based satellite digital multimedia
broadcasting (S-DMB) rose 45 percent annually to 1.85 million last year.
South Korea has been pursuing DMB as a potential growth engine for the
telecommunications industry, which is nearing saturation in the country with a
population of 49 million.
ygkim@yna.co.kr