The era of IPTV e-Government, which provides interactive public services through Internet Protocol televisions (IPTV), will be ushered in next year.
According to an industry insider, Seoul City plans to provide public information such as tender notices through IPTV on a real-time basis starting in March next year. They will then to move on to offering e-Government services including submission of civil petitions and tax payments.
In addition, the National Computing & Information Agency (NCIA), under the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS), has developed public service content for IPTV and is to conduct a trial run with 600 households subscribing to IPTV services this month. E-Government services, which hitherto have been offered through personal computers and mobile phones, will become available with a little help from a TV remote.
The NCIA said it had developed IPTV content for the so-called Government for Citizen (G4C) system, medical counseling, the purchase of agricultural or fisheries products and tourism. Also, it is running a pilot program at the Daejeon Government Complex and Daejeon City Hall from Nov. 7 through the end of this month. NCIA assistant director Kim Woo-chul said, "We haven't set a timetable, but pubic institutions developing content are consulting with telecommunication providers on the official launch of IPTV e-Government services."
He continued by saying, "First of all, it is difficult to offer a wide range of services immediately since public service content should be modified to fit into IPTV services. So, we plan to gradually expand IPTV services in stages." Seoul City, joining forces with SK Broadband and SK C&C, which is the SK Group's technology service arm, is set to build a new version of IPTV services, dubbed Broad & IPTV. They hope to officially launch full-scale IPTV services in March of next year.
