Population:	59.0 million
Coverage:	75%
Sales (accumulated):	30,000,000 devices

Last update: 31-01-2012

As the first country to commercially launch mobile TV, South Korea is the most successful DMB market in the world. More than 30 million DMB enabled devices have been sold, of which the most popular are mobile phones.  This number is expected to rise even more with an increase in coverage; services already cover over 75% of the country

Hundreds of DMB devices are available in this market and usage of mobile TV increases year on year. Interactive services are also growing in popularity adding value to broadcasting services. The Korean government has set up a digital audio project to recommend a digital audio broadcasting standard for Korea. Following ETRI's investogation of various digital radio platforms, a major decision is expected regarding the adoption of a digital radio technology for South Korean broadcasters. 

More and more Korean companies are seeing the global potential of DMB (including DAB and DAB+) and are starting to widen their focus to include the European markets and non-domestic Asian markets.

Korea's latest innovation is an interactive mobile TV service, or DMB 2.0, launched by SK Telecom in April 2010. with six terrestrial-DMB operators (TDMB). With DMB 2.0, mobile TV viewers are able to search the internet, receive news or stock information updates, and even enjoy mobile shopping while watching television.

DMB services cover approximately 75% of the country (almost all residential areas).

In this country there are

• National multiplexes: 3 Regular

There are six major broadcasters providing a variety of services to the South Korean market including mobile TV services.  New data applications such as BIFS have been introduced and broadcasters are anticipating an increase in revenue as these will be subscription only.. TPEG services are also available giving the consumer traffic and travel information. 

There are seven video services, 13 audio services and eight data services on air, five of them public and 23 commercial.

There are a large number of retailers in Korea selling DMB devices, and there are over a hundred different models by over thirty different manufacturers on the market.  The most popular are DMB mobile phones and GPS devices.

Sales have sky-rocketed since the initial launch of DMB services.

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC) govern broadcasting. The MIC is responsible for the development of broadcasting technology, spectrum management, and the licensing of stations. The KBC is responsible for regulation of content and advertising, as well as authorising and recommending licences. Only one licence is awarded to the multiplex operator, who can then either provide their own programmes or can lease capacity to other programme providers. The government divided the country into six regional broadcasting areas and 13 new nationwide broadcast licences have been granted for DMB services.