South Korea is set to help the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launch the Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) service.
The Korea Radio Promotion Association (RAPA) announced on 27 that it has picked the UAE as a target country for the Project Supporting the T-DMB Test Service for Developing Nations, and is receiving applications from domestic companies to participate in the project.
This project is about implementing the T-DMB test service in Sharjah, the third largest emirate of the UAE. T-DMB equipment manufacturers and terminal manufacturers in South Korea will take part in the project to build a system for test broadcasting. And they will cooperate with local broadcasting companies to air programs.
The support project started in 2008. The UAE is the sixth beneficiary. The T-DMB test service was offered in Malaysia and Egypt in 2008, in Cambodia in 2009, in Vietnam in 2010, and in Dominica in 2011.
Cambodia has commercialized the test service in its capital Phnom Penh. Vietnam and Dominica are continuing to experiment with the service and preparing to launch a commercial service. In particular, reports have it that Dominica plans to carry out a bidding auction for T-DMB frequencies to turn the test service into a commercial one. Meanwhile, Malaysia and Egypt have not commercialized the services because they use different digital broadcasting standards.