DVB-T Taiwan deployment

More than 2 million 6MHz DVB-T receivers with NTSC output now deployed in Taiwan

12 December 2007


The most recent figures from the Taiwan DTV Committee indicate that sales of DVB-T receivers have now passed the 2 million mark in that country. Whilst this reflects the success of DVB-T deployments around the world, Taiwan is particularly significant for having chosen to adopt the DVB-T system for digital terrestrial television in an environment where the NTSC system is used for analogue television, with 6MHz channel bandwidths.

More than 50 million DVB-T receivers have now been deployed around the world. It is common for proponents of competing systems to argue that DVB-T is only deployed in in 8MHz countries. However, DVB is proud to publicly state that DVB-T was, from the start, designed to operate equally well in 6, 7 and 8MHz environments and is deployed in countries with all three variations.

Services were launched in Taiwan with Single Frequency Networks. The latest figures from October of this year indicate that 2.3 million DVB-T receivers have been sold to consumers in Taiwan. This figure can be broken down into 1.7 million domestic set-top boxes [EDIT 17/12/07: of which 450,000 are TVs with integrated DVB-T and NTSC tuners], 0.3 million mobile receivers in cars, and a similar number of PC-based receivers. All domestic DVB-T receivers in Taiwan deliver an NTSC signal to TV displays.

As has been the case in other DVB-T markets, the retail price of receivers in Taiwan has continued to fall as the market has grown. Set-top boxes are now available for around $55 USD (or 1780 Taiwan Dollars), with USB DVB-T receivers typically costing as little as $30 USD (or 999 Taiwan Dollars).

DTT services in Brazil, which use the SBTVD system based on the Japanese ISDB-T system, require receivers which are on the market are selling for $350 USD.

The recent adoption of DVB-T by Uruguay, following a long and detailed study, was reached in part due to the "diversity, availability and cost of equipment". Earlier this year in the Philippines, another 6MHz NTSC country, a draft memorandum from the National Telecommunications Commission stated that DVB-T would be the best system to adopt, with one of the main benefits seen to be the low price of receivers.

source : dvb.org