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3D Video Preview and Progress Report on 'Wire and Wireless DMB Joint Project' with China
KDC Corporation, one of Korea's leading NI specialists, has recently held an IR (Investor Relations) meeting to introduce its "wire and wireless DMB joint project" and related 3D video display business with China. On September 15th, this by-invitation-only briefing was held at the Imperial Palace Hotel in Nonhyeondong, Seoul, and attended by many DMBrelated businessmen, experts, and about 30 institutional investors at home and abroad. Meanwhile, KDC has signed a contract on DMB broadcasting cooperation with a Chinese partner. At present, KDC is working together with its Chinese business partner, and it is reported that they have completed the planning process of building a broadcasting platform and networking of model cities, which will probably be launched in March 2006.
In addition, KDC has recently, in association with the Korea China Game Industry Association, advanced into the Chinese game market. Along with the opening of DMB broadcasting, China is now reviewing the establishment of a 3D video channel, and it is reported that Master Image, top-notch specialist in 3D video technology, is also participating in this project. In this briefing, comprising three parts, KDC's progress report on the DMB project, explanation of the 3D video project, and 3D video preview were presented, and all attendees showed deep interest in the huge potential of the Chinese market with 350 million mobile phone subscribers.
Meanwhile, with regard to the wire and wireless DMB joint project with China, Kim Tae-Sup, chairman of KDC, said in a recent interview, "Rather than DMB, a wire/wireless IPTV or AP DMB concept would be a more accurate definition. As China has already a wire infrastructure of 450,000 km, it has no need of wireless. The first task to be tackled by KDC is a restructuring job, including wire infrastructure upgrade and platform establishment."
He went on to explain that in addition to the relay station network and platform building, KDC plans to conduct broadcasting transmission and contents business. This, he pointed out, does not mean that KDC will separately establish a broadcasting station. China already has 97 broadcasting stations in its provinces and many large cities and a nationwide central broadcasting TV (CCTV).
KDC's role in helping the Chinese government is to collect the contents of major broadcasting stations, and modulate and transmit them for DMB broadcasting. In this sense, it is similar to the role of MCP (Master CP) that provides contents to the mobile communication company. Kim explained further: "Some people have asked me questions like" how can a small company like KDC undertake such a large project jointly with Chinese government My answer is that it has been rather favorable because KDC is not a well-known multinational company like Samsung Electronics or LG Electronics. The Chinese government thinks that until now it has been paying a huge amount of royalties to major global companies in the IT industry, including CDMA, and thus doesn't want to be controlled any longer by those giant companies.
He concluded on a confident note, saying, "KDC has accumulated about 30 years of experience in the NI business, and so it has been of great help for this joint project contract with the Chinese government. Moreover we have built up business experience of four and a half years in China, including the establishment of a joint venture."