On Dec 12th, the one-year anniversary of the launch of Internet Protocol television (IPTV), which has been hailed as the driver of interactive services and next-generation growth engine, was celebrated with a fanfare. The number of subscribers to IPTV services provided by KT (the leading telecommunications company in Korea), SK Broadband and LG Telecom has topped 1.5million.
At the celebration of the one-year anniversary of IPTV, was held at COEX in Samsung-dong, which the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) and Korea Digital Media Industry Association (KoDiMA) declared December 12th as "IPTV Day". Industry insiders celebrated the fact that the number of IPTV subscribers reached 1.5 million in such a short period of time, in the face of strong competition from the cable TV market that boasts 15 million subscribers.
However, it begs to differ, pointing out the worse-than-expected performance of IPTV as the number of IPTV subscribers fell far short of the initial target range of 2.5million to 3 million. The KCC has urged operators to come up with active marketing strategies, with the aim of boosting the number of IPTV subscribers up to 2 million.
