Samsung primes Europe for multimedia broadcasting

Samsung is trying to seed Europe with devices supporting DMB, the multimedia version of the Dab signal used for digital radio, in the hope of persuading operators to provide services.

The most prominent DMB-enabled device unveiled by the company at Cebit was the Q1 Origami ultra-mobile tablet .

Dr David Steel, vice-president of marketing for Samsung Digital Media Business, said many telecom operators were interested in trying to boost their revenues by offering multimedia to mobile users.

This would be either on a pay-per-view or a subscription basis using Dab or DVB-H, the mobile version of the signal used for digital terrestrial TV.

He said the experience in Samsung's home country Korea, which has pioneered DMB, showed that both business models could work.

Steel admitted that it was early days for the technology in Europe. But he went on: 'Here's the curse. If we don't have the products the operators say there is no point in rolling out the infrastructure and service because there are no devices there.

'And we don't have any interest in rolling out devices unless there is no infrastructure. So we are really caught in a loop.'

But because services are already up and running in Korea, Samsung has a full suite of DMB products. 'We can build DMB into PCs, or cameras or portable DVD players,' he said.

'We are meeting very actively in Europe with operators and saying let's do a trial. We will offer you test units so that you can trial them on your network.'

Samsung regards Britain as ripe for DMB because of its Dab experience and infrastructure, as well as it tradition of public broadcasting.

'So the BBC in the UK has an interest in broadly disseminating content rather than trying to charge for every piece.'

Another Korean company, LG Electronics, also showed DMB-enabled products .