Saturday, February 11, 2006

WorldDAB says "encouraging growth" in DAB in 2005

<bold><fontfamily><param>Verdana</param><smaller>London, <smaller><smaller> </smaller></smaller>February 6, - WorldDAB issued a summary on the progress of DAB digital radio take up around the world in 2005.

The industry group representing broadcasters and manufacturers said that DAB domestic receiver sales showed encouraging

growth trends with the United Kingdom in the lead.

In Asia, WorldDAB said that Korea has the potential to be a massive market for DAB and its family of standards.

Since December 2005, more than 110,000 DMB enabled receivers have been sold. Mobile

operators have ordered another 30,000 from manufacturers. Sales are expected to top

two million by the end of 2006.

In Singapore, 1% of its approximately one million households by the end of 2005,

had a DAB digital radio. 2005 saw sales rise to 10,000 units, a jump of 83%

in one year. In 2006, broadcasters in Singapore will continue to campaign on behalf of

DAB listening with digital roadshows and on-air advertising.

As the impact of DAB is felt on the international consumer electronics market, WorldDAB is in talks

with retailer auditors such as GfK and TSN Gallup to monitor sales in various countries around the

world.

Korean manufacturer, Samsung Electronics has agreed to supply 500,000 DMB phones to two major

Chinese mobile TV operators. Both companies plan to begin commercial DMB broadcasting in

Spring 2006. DAB digital radio services are part of the package that comes with DMB

broadcasting.

2006 is a big year for sports with the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the Ryder Cup, among

other events, all expected to grow overall radio listening, and WorldDAB said that DAB will take its

share of this market. In Germany, two major DMB trials are focused on the World Cup with radio and

television services. One is a project called <italic>Mi Friends</italic>, which has received official status as a

European project with a budget of around 18 million euros over the next two years.

DAB is broadcast in nearly 40 countries around the world either commercially or in trial phase and

more than 500 million people worldwide are within range of a DAB transmitter.

WorldDAB sees "great potential" in 2006 for products incorporating the DAB

family of standards, which now includes multimedia applications such as DMB and DAB-IP for

mobile TV.

DAB Digital Radio has become an internationally adopted standard that can be

seen and heard in nearly 40 countries. In Asia-Pacific, Australia, Hong Kong,India and China

are testing DAB and developing consumer trials.

The core Eureka147 standard has expanded into a family of DAB

standards which now include other multimedia applications and features, including DMB. Because

all of these share the same core standard, infrastructure and receiver technology they can co-exist

in any combination.

www.worlddab.org </smaller></fontfamily></bold>

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