South Korea plans to launch e-Government services via the country's IPTV platforms in Seoul City next year, according to reports in local news website Korea IT Times.

According to the reports, Seoul City plans to provide public information such as tender notices through IPTV on a real-time basis from March of next year, and will then move on to offering e-Government services including submission of civil petitions and tax payments at a later stage.  In addition, the National Computing & Information Agency (NCIA) is reported to have developed public service content for IPTV, and plans to conduct a trial run with 600 households subscribing to IPTV services this month.

The NCIA added that it has developed IPTV content for the Government for Citizen (G4C) system, including medical counselling, the purchase of agricultural and fisheries products, and tourism.  Kim Woo-chul, Assistant Director of the NCIA, stated: "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."

The Assistant Director added: "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."

Soeul City, in conjunction with SK Broadband and SK C&C (the SK Group's technology service division), is planning to build a new version of IPTV services, called 'Broad & IPTV', to be launched in March of next year, according to the reports.