Brazilian companies begin exporting devices for digital TVs
Valor Econômico
The Brazilian industry already starts exporting components and televisions with the digital technology adopted in the country. The Federal Government currently supports a caravan to the Latin American countries to present the Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial (ISDB-T) model, developed by Brazil from the Japanese technology. For the Government, the expansion of the Brazilian standard works to form a leadership image of the country in information technology (IT). For the national or multinational companies that produce here, there is an opportunity for new exports. According to the Superintendence of the Free Trade Zone of Manaus (Suframa), last year, Brazil exported 568 thousand digital TV decoders for satellite pay-TV systems. In 2009, 12,840 LCD televisions with embedded digital converters were also exported.
The first Brazilian company to make a relevant investment outside the country in digital TV is Linear, from Santa Rita do Sapucaí (MG), which will build a transmission systems unit in Uruguay, with a minimum value of R$ 4 million (US$ 2.2 million), says Carlos Alberto Fructuoso, Administrative Officer of the company. The plant will seek to cater mainly to the Argentine market, which has already adhered to the Brazilian model. Peru, Chile and Venezuela have also decided to adopt the ISDB-T. Last week, the Minister of Communications, Hélio Costa, went to Uruguay to address the issue. In March, another Brazilian party plans on visiting Costa Rica. Brazil also holds conversations with Cuba, Bolivia, Paraguay and Ecuador.
According to André Barbosa Filho, Special Adviser of the Civilian Household Office, the negotiations of the Brazilian government regarding digital TV cross the Atlantic. Last week, a party from South Africa was introduced to the Brazilian project. And next month a Botswana delegation will come to see the Ginga, software developed in Brazil that allows features of interaction with the public. "We broke the American and European hegemony to take the countries a royalty-free system that can promote greater social inclusion", says Barbosa Filho.
Since the Brazilian technology has an open code - that is, the default has known specifications that can be modified by other programmers - the Brazilian industry is not guaranteed the market reserve for the supply of equipment for the transmission and reception of digital TV to the countries that adopt the ISDB-T standard, says Roberto Pinto Martins, Telecommunications Secretary of the Ministry of Communications. "It is a great business opportunity for everybody, but in order to become true, the Brazilian industry must be competitive, because China or other countries can also produce such equipment".