LG Eyes No. 1 in Europe’s DTV Market

LG Electronics aims to dominate the European digital TV market by 2007 by boosting output at its two Polish plants from 1.5 million units this year to 4 million units.

The electronics giant said Monday that it plans to become the No. 1 digital TV supplier in Europe by gradually expanding the annual production capacity of its two plants in Poland from 1.5 million units this year to three million in 2006, four million in 2007 and six million in 2010.

``We seek to dominate the European digital TV market through low prices based on local production in Europe, streamlining our distribution network in the region and beefing up our flat-panel display TV product lineup,’’ said Kim Jong-eun, president and chief executive of LG Electronics’ European operations.

LG Electronics’ digital TV production will be enhanced by its second Polish digital TV plant that will start mass production next month. The electronics maker expects demand for the flat-screen digital TV to rise steadily in the future as the majority of European countries have just begun adopting high-definition (HD) digital broadcasting services.

``With the completion of our second plant in Poland, in addition to production facilities in Mlawa Poland, Reynosa Mexico, Shenyang and Nanyang China, and Kumi Korea, LG has completed the establishment of production bases on the major continents,’’ Kim added. He said LG would continue striving to localize the entire production system from research and development to retail.

LG Electronics’ Polish digital TV production subsidiary plans for $1 billion in sales this year and seeks to triple its annual revenue to $3 billion by 2010.

The electronics maker, which ranked second only to Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands in the European plasma display panel (PDP) TV market in the first half, is confident about becoming the No. 1 PDP TV vendor in Europe in the second half.

In the January-June period, Philips led the European PDP TV market with 15.5 percent market share, followed by LG Electronics with 14.2 percent, Panasonic with 13.7 percent, Samsung Electronics with 9.6 percent and Sony with 9.1 percent, according to GfK data provided by LG.

LG Electronics seeks to control the biggest share of the liquid crystal display (LCD) TV market in Europe by 2007, the Gfk data said.

(Source: The Korea Times)

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