Over the next few months South Korea will implement their plan for a high power simulcast DRM transmitter to start broadcasting on medium wave. Alongside this there is an ongoing modernization plan for renewing shortwave transmitters with DRM capability. Following this, there has been a growing demand from receiver manufacturers, to have a DRM chipset and a number of Korean chipset manufacturers are working hard to develop this as soon as possible.
The trip to South Korea was followed immediately by a trip to Japan, mainly to meet with receiver manufacturers involved in the automotive industry. Companies like Alpine, JVC Kenwood, Panasonic, Pioneer and Sony showed great interest in the progress and deployment of DRM in emerging markets and all the meetings were well attended often by groups of up to nine or ten key staff members. The interest is driven by demand from car manufacturers that have already have a presence in these fast growing markets. There was also a remarkable amount of interest in DRM from A/V receiver manufacturers in DRM. As in South Korea, Japan has also put together a plan to renew their shortwave transmitters with those with DRM capability.