(15 July 2006 12:25 pm)

MUMBAI: The South Korean fixed-line & broadband carrier KT Corporation has called for the government to speed up introducing Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), claiming that a one-year delay would cost the nation about 1 trillion won (US$1.07 billion).

An Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union report quotes The Korea Times on KT's warning that Korea might suffer a loss of more than 1 trillion won, if the adoption of IP-based media services was delayed by one year, hurting related equipment makers severely.

Korea has been slow to adopt the cutting-edge services largely due to the protests and lobbying efforts from terrestrial TV and cable service providers, who fear their market share might decline and profits shrink. KT and other telecom operators with solid IP infrastructure want to use their facilities to expand their service coverage and broaden income bases.

Korea is now expected to allow operators to launch IPTV as early as in 2007 and KT plans to invest 300 billion won (US$319 million) into IPTV infrastructure this year for a faster service launch, the report adds.